Maharashtra: Over 50 students of Palghar school hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning

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Over 50 students from around 10 ashram schools in Dahanu taluka of Maharashtra's Palghar district fell ill due to suspected food poisoning on Tuesday morning and were admitted to hospitals, officials said, reported the PTI.

Ashram schools are residential schools for tribal students.

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"More than 50 students from different ashram schools under the Dahanu Project of the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) complained of nausea, vomiting and giddiness following which they have admitted to different health facilities in the district," Palghar Resident Deputy Collector Subhash Bhagade said, according to the PTI.

"The cause of the food poisoning is being probed. The students admitted to hospitals are undergoing treatment," he said.

The affected schools are located in Dahanu, Palghar, Talasari and Vasai talukas of the district, officials said.

As per an official report, students of an ashram school at Rankol in Dahanu complained of vomiting, nausea, stomach pain and fever hours after consuming dinner on Monday night, the news agency reported on Tuesday.

Around 3 am on Tuesday, nearly 28 girl students took ill and were rushed to a nearby health centre, where they are undergoing treatment, it said.

Project Officer at the ITDP in Dahanu, Dr Satyam Gandhi, told PTI that none of the students admitted were serious.

"Information about exactly how many students got affected is being compiled," he said.

Another official said that food is supplied to these ashram schools from the central kitchen in Palghar and following the incident, the food samples have been collected for analysis.

District Collector Govind Bodke along with health department and other officials are visiting the hospitals in Dahanu and Talasari talukas, where the students have been admitted, to take stock of the situation, he said.

Meanwhile in an another similar incident in April, around 50 students from a private coaching centre in Maharashtra's Pune district were hospitalised after they suffered from food poisoning, a police official had said, the PTI had reported.

The private centre in Khed taluka has provided boarding facilities to over 500 students. It offers coaching to students preparing for Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the senior official had said.

After having dinner at the coaching centre at night, more than 50 students complained of food poisoning symptoms like stomach ache, vomiting and diarrhoea the next day.

(with PTI inputs)