Mumbai: Five male and three female inmates from Byculla prison were rushed to the state-run JJ Hospital on Saturday evening after experiencing abdomen pain, nausea, dehydration and diarrhoea even as 79 female inmates who were admitted to the hospital due to suspected food poisoning the day before were discharged.
Meanwhile, JJ Hospital doctors are still unable to pinpoint the main cause of the deterioration of the health of the 87 prisoners, including two pregnant women, a four-month-old infant and a male prisoner, which occurred on Friday morning. The patients had complained of diarrhoea, stomach ache and nausea.
While initial diagnosis has hinted at food or water contamination, doctors are still awaiting reports to decide on the course of treatment and jail authorities said that the condition of all the inmates was being monitored closely.
Rajvardhan Sinha, inspe-ctor general of police (prisons) said, “We are waiting for the pathology report, which will come on Monday. It will reveal the exact cause. Also, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) water department has taken water samples. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken food samples. At present we are giving prisoners distilled and purified water. Also, a cleanliness process has been started as a precautionary measure.”
Talking to The Asian Age, Dr Sanjay Surase, medical superintendent, of JJ Hospital, said, “Today evening we received five male and three female new admissions complaining pain in abdomen, vomiting, dehydration and loose motions. And 84 female patients are discharged, so total there are 11 patients with us, and all are stable.”
A few days ago, a male prisoner was diagnosed with vibro cholera. The JJ Hospital authorities infor-med the BMC’s health department. Officials from the BMC visited Byculla Jail and prescribed a 100mg Doxycycline tablet to prisoners as a preventive measure against cholera. However, JJ Hospital medicos said that the outbreak was not a reaction to the medicine that the inmates had been administered care.
