Bihar Diwas: 12 kids hospitalised in Patna with stomach infection

As many as 12 children out of the 160 who complained of acute stomach infection due to suspected food poisoning during the Bihar Diwas celebrations on March 22 were admitted to the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) on Thursday, officials said.

PATNA: As many as 12 children out of the 160 who complained of acute stomach infection due to suspected food poisoning during the Bihar Diwas celebrations on March 22 were admitted to the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) on Thursday, officials said.

Children undergo treatment at PMCH on Thursday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The incident has exposed the state government’s poor arrangements for the three-day “Bihar Diwas” celebrations, which will conclude on March 24.

Patna district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh said he has constituted a four-member committee, headed by the additional district magistrate (special) to inquire into the lapses, if any.

“The Bihar Education Project Council is the nodal organisation responsible for bringing and making arrangements for the stay of the students. We extended immediate treatment to the students (as soon as they fell sick),” said Singh.

“We assume that there was some problem with the food. Proper treatment is being given to them (the children),” said ANI, quoting Dr Vibha Kumari Singh, Patna’s civil surgeon.

“The children are out of danger. Saline infusion to most of them had been stopped and they were likely to be discharged tomorrow, said Dr IS Thakur, medical superintendent of the PMCH.

“The children, mostly in the age group of 11 to 16 years, have developed gastroenteritis, which is a stomach infection, and have been admitted to the paediatric emergency. They are, however, out of danger,” said Thakur.

“The children, with complaints of stomach pain, vomiting, and loose motion started coming to our facility since Wednesday. Five of them who came Wednesday evening were given oral rehydration solution (ORS) and medicines but did not require hospitalisation. However, 11 children, who came in different batches this morning, have been hospitalised,” said Thakur, adding, “We have readied a 20-bed paediatric ward and six-bed intensive care unit for such children at our hospital.”

Among the children hospitalised, six are from Sitamarhi, three from Aurangabad, and one each from East Champaran and Purnia. Five children, treated in the outdoor patient department on Wednesday evening, were from Katihar.

“The source of stomach infection could have been passed from hand or food, which is difficult to ascertain at this stage,” said Dr AK Jaiswal, professor, and head, department of paediatrics, PMCH.

Meanwhile, the children as well as teachers who accompanied them to Patna from far-away districts were critical of the arrangements at the venue.

The condition was abominable at the Bankipore Girls High School, where our lodging arrangement was done on March 21, the day we reached Patna. There was no drinking water or electricity at the venue. The toilets were not in proper condition,” said a government school teacher from Khagaria, requesting anonymity.

“We sent an ultimatum to our district that we want to return due to poor living conditions and arrangements, but were asked to hold on. It was only the next day that electricity and water supply was arranged,” she said.

She said that nearly 600 female students and teachers were made to stay at the Bankipore Girls High School venue, while boys were accommodated at the BN Collegiate and later at the Ram Mohun Roy Seminary School.

“We had at least 30 students and two teachers sleeping on the mattress on the ground in one classroom, which had no curtains, door, or windows in them. It was all too crowded and unhygienic,” she said.

Shivani Kumari, a class 10 student from Madhepura, who had taken ill, was critical of the food provided to them.

“The food provided to us was bad. There was no proper arrangement for drinking water. We had to take water from a tanker, which had become warm under the scorching sun,” she said.

Sanjana Kumari, 16, another student from Uttkramit High School, Goria Toli in Siwan, was also critical of the lodging arrangements, especially the food and drinking water provided to them.

“The minimum the government authorities should have done was to provide us packaged drinking water and not expect us to have water sourced from a tanker and kept in an open drum,” she added.