IIIT Basara is again in the news and for the wrong reasons again. Over 400 students of the first and second year of PUC fell ill after eating lunch served in a mess on the campus in Nirmal district on Friday, July 15.
As soon as they had lunch, many of them began throwing up and some of them fell unconscious. The college authorities gave them treatment at the dispensary on the campus and about 15 students whose condition turned critical were sent to a private hospital in Nizamabad. Of them, nine are under treatment in ICU and a majority of them are girls.
The students alleged that after eating egg-fried rice, some of them fell unconscious while others had severe stomach pain. They said they suspected the use of poor-quality oil to be the reason for food poisoning.
Nirmal district Collector Mushraff Ali Faruqui and Superintendent of Police Ch Praveen Kumar visited IIIT Basara and enquired about the quality of food served to the students and the condition of those who are admitted to the hospital in Nizamabad.
Later, he said that the 15 students who were in the ICU in Nizamabad hospital were out of danger. About 14 medical teams were providing treatment to the students at IIIT Basara.
Meanwhile, Health Minister T Harish Rao inquired about the health condition of the students with the district Collector and IIIT Basara Director. He instructed the DHMO to depute special teams to IIIT-Basara to attend to the students.
Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy spoke to the students about how they were progressing in the hospital and promised them that she would order an inquiry into how the food at the canteen got contaminated.
The students of IIIT Basara had gone on a strike for about a week recently with a long list of demands in which improving the quality of food served to them was one. Before the students went on strike, one of them got a frog in his food while another found an insect.
Meanwhile, Government General Hospital (GGH) Nizamabad Superintendent Dr Prathima Raj said that 24 students have been admitted to various hospitals in the district with symptoms of food poisoning. Dr Raj said that all the students were stable and none had any major complaints. She said that one was admitted to GGH, 11 to Hope Hospital, 12 to a Government hospital Navipet.
Meanwhile, Telangana Jagruthi activists reached Hope Hospital to console the students following which BJP activists too reached the hospital but were prevented entry by the staff.
The BJP activists pick up the argument with the hospital staff and police. After receiving information about this, Nizamabad Commissioner of Police KR Nagaraju reached the hospital and asked both the Telangana Jagruthi and BJP activists to leave.
