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Rajahmundry milk adulteration case: Toll mounts to 9, eight others still critical
Nine people have died due to suspected milk adulteration in Andhra Pradesh, with 11 others hospitalized. Police have arrested a dairy owner linked to the case.
The death toll in the suspected milk adulteration case in Rajamahendravaram in Andhra Pradesh’s East Godavari district went up to nine, district officials said on Friday.
“While five persons died while undergoing treatment in various hospitals till February 24, four others died in the last four days, the last death being that of 69-year-old woman G Venkatalakshmi in the wee hours of Friday,” an official statement from the district authorities said.
Another 11 people are still undergoing treatment at four private hospitals in Rajamahendravaram, of whom eight were still on ventilators and their condition continued to be critical. The remaining three patients are undergoing dialysis treatment and they are stable, the statement said.
Though multiple admissions of people in various hospitals with symptoms of anuria (absence of urine output), vomiting, abdominal pain and acute renal dysfunction had been happening since February 16, the issue came to the light only on February 22 following the death of a 76-year-old woman at a private hospital in Rajamahendravaram.
The police and district and medical health department authorities swung into action to take up the investigation. The affected people belonged to Chowdeswaranagar and Swaroopanagar areas of Rajamahendravaram.
“Clinical findings indicated acute renal failure with elevated blood urea and serum creatinine levels, suggestive of toxic exposure. Preliminary epidemiological investigation indicated strong connection to milk consumption as the probable source of exposure,” the official statement said.
The police investigation revealed that the milk was supplied to 106 families from Varalakshmi Milk Dairy of Narasapuram village. “Milk supply from this diary has been immediately stopped and its owner Addala Ganeswara Rao (33) alias Ganesh was arrested,” the statement said, adding the police registered a criminal case at Town-III police station, under Section 194 of the BNSS.
Emergency medical camps have been established in affected areas and ensured that all the persons who consumed the milk supplied by the accused got the medical treatment. Specialist doctors from Hyderabad, including senior nephrologist Dr Ravi Raju, arrived in Rajahmundry to supervise and standardise treatment protocols, the statement said.
