This is not the first case of Mid-Day meal food poisoning in Goa but it has become a regular affair. The most shocking or you can call it surprising thing here is, despite repeated incidents of food poisoning the education department has still not taken any serious actions against the culprits and the suppliers of food items to the schools still keep playing with the life of innocent children.
In one of the recent case of the food poisoning that reported at the Government Primary School at Alto Betim in Porvorim, around 16 students fell ill on Wednesday after eating the Mid-Day meal supplied by the Gayatri Self Help Group. The doctors have confirmed the case of food poisoning resulted due to the consuming the food. According to the reports, the condition of five students is said to be serious and they have been admitted into the GMC (Goa Medical College and Hospitals) in critical condition, said the sources.
According to the reports, one of the students had informed the head teacher of the school about finding some sticks (looks like broomsticks) found in the food and within no time around dozens of students started omitting and fell sick. Soon they had been sent to PHC (Primary Health Centre) in Porvorim for the treatment. But doctor found out that condition of five students is very serious and they have been admitted into the GMC for the treatment. Later on, the official informed that the condition of the students at GMC is stable.
A preliminary inquiry by the Education Department it was revealed that the food served to the students was stale. The job of serving the mid-day meal was assigned to a non-governmental organization, Gayatri Self Help Group. Primary Health Centre, Medical Officer, Dr. Roshan Nazareth said, “We got a call at 12 that students were feeling giddy and having pain in the abdomen. We came with our medical team and observed that of the 16 students some 11 required treatment and we observed them till 2.30 pm but till then there were some that still had the pain so we referred five students to GMC.”
The sources had revealed that, soon after consuming the food supplied in the Mid Day meal at around 11 am, the students started vomiting. “Students said that they found small sticks and showed it to me, so I immediately reported it the Self Help Group which prepares the meals. After this two ladies from the self-help group came and they too were surprised to know that there were sticks. Soon after this student started complaining of vomiting and teachers accordingly sent them to the toilets. The situation soon became worse and I realized that it would be better to call the doctor. The doctors started observing them but by then some started feeling better while others continued to be uncomfortable until 1.30 pm,” said Anjali Malik, Headmistress, Government Primary School.
Meanwhile, Education Director Gajanan Bhat said the department has initiated an inquiry into the incident. “We have suspended the midday meal contract with Gayatri SHG and if found guilty the contract will be terminated. Besides this school, the same SHG was supplying to the Chopdekar HS and they also have found some cases related to stale food,” Bhat said. Meanwhile, FDA has collected samples of the food for testing reports of which will be out soon. “The tests shall be conducted on these samples as well as the food found in the plates of which students ate,” FDA officials said.
The education department and the other concern authorities do their job by terminating the contract with the concern Self Help Groups but that is not the end or the solution to the existing situation. The education department needs to take the stringent actions including the initiating of the criminal proceedings against the guilty as it will send the strong message across all the careless SGH (Self Help Groups) in the state that playing with the health and life of innocent children will not let them go scot free.
NEWS SOURCE | IMAGE SOURCE: SOCIAL MEDIA
