Seven of Govandi school students still in hospital

Mumbai: Seven out of the 426 students of Govandi’s BMC school number 1 — who were admitted to civic-run Rajawadi Hospital after panic spread on Friday following the death of a 12-year-old schoolgirl — are still undergoing treatment at the hospital and are likely to be discharged by Monday.

The kids, whose families reside in Bainganwadi’s Shivaji Nagar slum, were rushed to the hospital after they complained of stomachache and nausea after consuming iron and deworming pills. Some parents alleged that the sickness was caused by food poisoning, whereas others blamed the iron/folic acid and deworming tablets.

On their part, civic officials claimed that there was nothing wrong with the pills and that the kids could have been hospitalised due to “mob psychology and panic”, “their faulty food habits” and “monsoon related ailments such as cold, cough and viral fever”.

Dr Vidya Thakur, medical superintendent of Rajawadi Hospital, said, “All the kids were stable and our experts have ruled out any kind of drug reaction. As a few children were complaining of stomach pain and headache, we have treated them with ORS powder and antacid.”

“These could be linked with faulty food habits and monsoon-related ailments as a few kids were having fever. We have not treated even a single child for drug reaction, vomiting or diarrhoea,” she said.

According to Dr Thakur, while seven kids have been kept under observation, only four children have been suffering from diarrhoea and nausea since last week, and they are now recuperating.

The kids allegedly took ill after consuming deworming and folic acid/iron tablets distributed in a BMC school on Monday and Friday, respectively. They complained of nausea, giddiness and stomachache.