At least 12 inmates of a children home at Mitrapur under Nilgiri block fell sick after they took dinner on late Tuesday night.
Four of them, Jaba Hembram, Galu Singh, Ganesh Tiria and Sankar Besra were shifted to the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack after their conditions deteriorated on Wednesday evening. While five of the kids were sent back home after preliminary treatment, the other three were under treatment in the district headquarters hospital. Their condition was stated to be stable.
It was suspected that the sick children between seven and 15 years of age suffered from nausea, giddiness and vomiting due to food poisoning. The District Collector and the CDMO visited the children home on Thursday afternoon and took the stock of the situation after a team headed by an epidemiologist visited the centre. Stagnant dirty water, unhygienic environment and overflowing of toilets could have caused the problem, informed CDMO Dr Anup Ghosh.