Midday meal had pesticide

July 18, 2013

Masrakh (Chapra), Jul 18: A day after the midday meal tragedy in Chapra, the Bihar government claimed that the death of children at Dharmasati primary school, was not due to food-poisoning. Rather, the food had traces of organic phosphorous, a form of pesticide.midday_meal_copy

This was confirmed by Bihar Education Minister P K Sahi on Wednesday. He, however, could not say whether the adulteration was a deliberate act.

“Investigation is on. We will soon find out who actually carried out such a criminal activity,” said Sahi.

Meanwhile, the toll rose from 11 to 22. Thirty-one more children were shifted in a critical condition from Chapra to Patna Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday morning.

“As of now, we have information of the death of 22 children,” sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Masrakh Kundan Kumar told Deccan Herald on Wednesday.

The police have lodged an FIR against school headmistress Meena Kumari. She has been charged under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 328 (poisoning) and 120B (criminal conspiracy). She and her colleague are absconding.

Sahi said they suspected poisoning due to organic phosphorous as traces of insecticide were found in the food.

Doctors attending the affected children have reportedly told him that “atropine was working positively on patients which showed that some kind of poisoning had taken place.” The food samples are, however, analysed by the Forensic Science Laboratory.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal observed bandh in Saran on Wednesday to protest against the tragedy.

Another report from Gaya said one child died at Atari after consuming Vitamin A.

Madhubani incident

In a similar incident, reports from Madhubani said 50 children of a government school took ill on Wednesday after they were served food at Navtolia Middle School, Bisfi, about 22 km from Madhubani. The students alleged that the meal had a dead lizard in it.

Around 50 students complained of stomach ache and began vomitting after eating the midday meal. They were then rushed to Bisfi health centre, its medical officer in charge A K Prabhat told reporters. “All the students are out of danger,” he said.

Except for seven children, the rest have been discharged from the health centre, he said.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: India's COVID-19 tally on Saturday witnessed its highest-ever spike of 11,458 cases, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

A total of 386 deaths have been reported due to the infection during the last 24 hours.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 3,08,993 including 1,45,779 active cases 1,54,330 cured/discharged/migrated and 8,884 deaths.

COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra continue to soar with the number reaching 101141. Tamil Nadu's coronavirus count stands at 40,698 while cases in Delhi reached 36,824.

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News Network
March 24,2020

New Delhi, Mar 24: The total number of active COVID-19 cases reported so far in the country stands at 446 while the number of people who have been cured or discharged stands at 36, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Nine people have died from the disease while one case has migrated, the Ministry further informed.
The Central government has taken several steps to contain the rapid spread of the virus, including stoppage of all incoming passenger traffic on 107 immigration check posts at all airports, seaports, land ports, rail ports, and river ports.
There is a complete lockdown in as many as 548 districts of the country affecting several hundred million people.
The Indian Railways has also cancelled all passenger train operations till March 31.

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News Network
March 9,2020

Kolkata, Mar 9: A diabetic man died in the isolation ward of a hospital in West Bengal's Murshidabad on Sunday, a day after he was admitted there with suspected symptoms of coronavirus following his return from Saudi Arabia.

According to doctors, he was admitted to the hospital with fever, cough and cold.

Though test results of his blood and swab samples for novel coronavirus were awaited, it can be said that he died probably of diabetes, Director of Health Services Ajay Chakraborty told PTI.

"The man was highly diabetic and was on insulin. He returned home from Saudi Arabia and had no money to take insulin for the last three to four days.

"He was also suffering from fever, cough and cold. He was admitted to the isolation ward of the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital yesterday and died today," the health services director said.

"We are waiting for the results of medical tests. The possibility of his death due to novel coronavirus infection is remote," he said.

However, precautions will be taken during the last rites of the victim according to the directives set by the central and state governments for patients who die of the virus, another senior official said.

"Family members will not be allowed to touch the body since the man had been suffering from cough and breathlessness. Those performing his last rites will be given protective gear, masks and gloves. Though test results are yet to be known, we do not want to take any chance," he said.

Meanwhile, the state health department has issued a directive to all private medical facilities to create a system for assessing all patients at admission allowing early recognition of possible COVID-19 infection and immediate isolation of patients with suspected novel coronavirus infection in an area separate from other patients.

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