Dead lizard in hostel food leaves students ill
CHENNAI: More than 100 students of Quaid-e-Millath Government Women’s College were taken ill in the hostel on Sunday night due to suspected food poisoning.
Rushed to nearby hospitals, the students were discharged the next day after doctors confirmed their condition to be stable. Parents alleged that the management did not inform them about the incident.
The students were reportedly consuming idli around 10 pm in the evening, when one of them found a lizard baked in the food. They were immediately rushed to different government hospitals in the city.
After an initial screening, 48 were admitted in Royapettah hospital and 17 in Rajiv Gandhi memorial hospital and were discharged by Monday afternoon.
Dr Anand Pratap, Resident Medical Officer at the Government Royapettah Hospital, told Express, “The symptoms were nausea and head ache and four students had diarrhoeal bouts. Majority of them were suffering from anxiety and panic due to the incident. But they were stable in the morning and hence were discharged”.
Throughout the incident, the management had not informed the students’ parents about the occurrence.
“We were not allowed to inform our parents and were sent home soon after being discharged. Most of us had to go on our own despite being sick since we were not allowed to stay in the hostel even for the night”, said one of the affected students.
The college had declared one-week holiday for hostelers after the Food Safety Department had conducted an inspection and issued a warning notice to the management.
“We have collected samples of food and drinking water from the hostel for testing. Further action will be based on the report which is expected within 15 days,” said Dr R Kathiravan, Designated Officer, Chennai Food Safety Department.