| 18th Jul 2013, Agencies
School children eating mid-day meal at a government school in Gaya on Wednesday - PTI

School children eating mid-day meal at a government school in Gaya on Wednesday – PTI

Neyveli (Tamil Nadu): Close on the heels of 23 children in Bihar dying after consuming contaminated mid-day meals, over 100 girl students fell sick after eating food served at a school here under the mid-day meal scheme.

105 girls, students of classes VII and VIII, fell sick after consuming the eggs served in their meal at Neyveli Lignite Corporation-owned Girls’ High School, school authorities said on condition of anonymity.

The students were rushed to NLC Hospital and are now out of danger, hospital’s child specialist Dr Sridharan said. Soon after the girls vomited, with some of them fainting, distribution of food was stopped, officials said.

Twenty-three children died in Chhapra in Bihar after consuming mid-day meal, sparking violent protests amid suspicions by the state government that it was poisoned. In a related incident, about 50 students of a government middle school in Madhubani district fell ill after eating food under the mid-day meal scheme.

Eight students taken ill after consuming iron supplements in Delhi 

New Delhi: Eight students, including seven girls, of a Delhi Government-run school in North West Delhi fell ill after allegedly being given folic acid and iron supplements under a newly launched government scheme.

The incident comes close on the heels of mid-day meal tragedies in two Bihar schools and the death of a child after taking Vitamin A tablets at an anganwadi centre in that state. The girls of the Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Bharatpur locality in Ashok Vihar area were rushed to Sundarlal Jain Hospital on Wednesday after the fell sick. They were discharged Thursday morning.

“Eight students in the age group of 10-12 years were brought to the hospital yesterday by the local police. They all had the common complaint of abdomen pain and vomiting. They said they were given iron tablets in their school,” Medical Superintendent of Sundarlal Jain Hospital Subhash Aggarwal said. He said the following treatment, students were discharged early Thursday morning.

“We carried out stomach wash of the students besides normal medical treatment,” Aggarwal said. “We are examining why the eight students in Bharatpur fell ill,” they said. When asked about the incident, Delhi’s Health Minister A.K. Walia refused to comment.

The scheme to provide iron and folic acid tablets was kicked off on Wednesday to improve the health of students studying in schools. Under the programme all adolescent children in 6 to 12th standard at government and government aided schools will be given iron and folic acid tablets once a week.

DCP North West P. Karunakaran said the students complained that they fell ill after taking the tablets given in the school. “An investigation into the case is on,” he said.

The incident comes a day after one child died and 21 other children fell ill after taking vitamin A tablets given to them at an anganwadi centre in Bihar’s Gaya district.

34 students taken ill after drinking contaminated water in Maharashtra

Nashik: At least 34 students, including 13 girls, fell ill after allegedly consuming contaminated water in Dhule district, police said on Thursday. The water was allegedly supplied by a tanker to the private Kasturbai Ashram school in Tavkheda village in Shind Kheda taluka of north Maharashtra’s Dhule district.

The students upon drinking the water started vomiting and complained of diarrhoea late on July 16 night.

A medical team from Dhule civil hospital rushed to the school and provided treatment to the affected students, who were in the age group of 8 to 12 years. Two of the children who were taken ill were admitted to hospital.

Health department sources, meanwhile, said that the condition of all the students was improving. Dhule collector Prakash Mahajan and zila parishad chief executive officer Anil Landge visited the school Wednesday night, police added. The private ashram school runs classes from first to the tenth standard.

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