Health dept team begins checkup of Indore hostel kids

A day after the news of several tribal students residing at a government hostel at Gomatigiri, Indore, suffering from skin ailments broke, the health department set out to conduct a checkup of the children.

A day after the news of several tribal students residing at a government hostel at Gomatigiri, Indore, suffering from skin ailments broke, the health department set out to conduct a checkup of the children.

During the course of the initial investigation, lack of cleanliness at the hostel was the possible reason behind the ailments. The team also found that the health condition of all the children was very bad.

Indore chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr SK Porwal said health department team was going to conduct a thorough diagnosis of all students who were residing at the hostel.

“Apart from that, we will take paediatricians with us and conduct an examination for tuberculosis,” Dr Porwal added.

Earlier on Sunday when the news broke, the district collector pressed health department team into action and ordered them to visit the site and take stock of situation.

During the inspection, the team examined about 55 kids out of which 40 were diagnosed with scabies, one of cleft lip and cleft palate, while two kids suffered from fever and one suffering from diarrhoea.

The parents of the children had claimed that the condition of more than 100 kids residing at the hostel, which runs under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was abysmal, with several developing skin diseases.

Later, the district project officer Shashikant Gubrele admitted that they had received complaints from the hostel, following which, the health department team had been sent there to determine the exact cause of the diseases.

Gubrele said that though the hostel comes under the ambit of the SSA, its responsibility had been allotted to a Bhopal-based NGO.