In Telangana, over 100 students have been admitted to hospitals in the last 48 hours due to a possible case of food poisoning, which has raised serious concerns about the quality of food being served in government schools and hostels. The cases were reported from the districts of Sangareddy, Khammam, and Wanaparthy on Thursday and Friday.
The first major scare occurred on Thursday, January 29, at a government primary school in Venkatapur village, Sangareddy. Around 45 students fell ill shortly after eating their mid-day meal. What is disturbing is that the students had complained about the smell of one of the curries before they ate it, but their complaint was ignored. It was only when 23 of them were rushed to the Narayankhed Government Hospital because of vomiting and stomach pain that the situation turned serious. Local MLA Sanjeeva Reddy visited the facility to calm anxious parents, later issuing a stern warning to school supervisors and promising infrastructure upgrades, including new cooking equipment, to prevent a recurrence.
However, the trouble spread the following day. On Friday, 38 students from Bodiyathanda Government Primary School in Khammam district were rushed to the hospital after showing similar symptoms of diarrhea and stomach pain. While many are being treated, doctors at the Khammam Government Hospital noted that roughly 10 students remain in critical condition. The exact cause of the contamination in this instance is still being investigated by local health authorities.
The situation escalated further on Friday night in Wanaparthy district, where 32 students at the BC Intermediate Girls Hostel in Kothakota fell ill after a dinner of bottle gourd curry, rasam, and eggs. The hostel warden, Vijaya, had to arrange for an emergency evacuation using 108 ambulances to shift the girls to the district hospital. The event led to a tense political confrontation at the hospital; while District Collector Adarsh Surabhi assured an investigation and severe action against the guilty, a clash broke out between Bharat Rashtra Samithi leaders and Congress MLAs due to the frequent failures in safety measures.
As of late Friday night, medical officers have been making rounds at the affected hostels to reassure the remaining students, but the back-to-back nature of these cases has put the state’s mid-day meal and hostel management systems under intense scrutiny.
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