Thirty eight students, including 14 girls, are being treated for suspected gastro-enteritis, after they took ill consuming contaminated water in an Adivasi residential school in Shind Kheda taluka of Dhule district in north Maharashtra, 350 km from here.
While, 34 tribal students in the age group of 6 to 15 years developed symptoms of suspected gastro-enteritis like diarrhea, nausea and vomiting on Wednesday evening, another four children took ill with identical symptoms on Thursday. Of the affected students, 29 are being treated at a make-shift isolation ward set up at the private Kasturbai Ashram School in Tavkhede village, from where the incident of water contamination has been reported.
Seven children are undergoing treatment at a primary health centre at the nearby Nardana town, while the remaining two children with severe symptoms have been shifted to district civil hospital at Dhule for treatment. Preliminary medical investigations have revealed that all except one male student, had taken ill after consuming contaminated water supplied to the private Adivasi Ashram school. Remaining one student, who developed symptoms of suspected gastro-enteritis first, had consumed water drawn from an open well located on the residential school premises.
“Initially, a boy from the school displayed symptoms like vomiting, nausea and loose motion early on Wednesday. He had consumed water drawn from a bhavdi (a large open well) located on the school premises. The doctor, who attended the child, surmised that the water is contaminated and advised the school management against using the water from the well. After that the school organised water through a tanker which also proved to be contaminated,” Dhule district Collector Prakash Mahajan told The Pioneer over telephone from the north Maharashtra town on Thursday evening.
Mahajan, who along with Dhule District Health Hospital (DDHH) chief Dr Arvind More is personally monitoring the situation, said: “There are in all 460 students in the Ashram school where the incident took place. We have disinfected the school and other sources of water in the vicinity. The source from where water was provided to the school through a tanker has also been disinfected”. Incidentally, the open well within the school premises is located next to an open nallah (drain). The authorities suspect the percolation of impure water from the nallah might have contributed to the contamination of water in the school. They are simultaneously trying to ascertain the reason for contamination of water supplied to the school through a tanker.
Talking to The Pioneer from the Ashram school where he is camping, Dr More said: “We have sent samples of water consumed by the children and also stool and blood samples of children to a district laboratory for a chemical analysis. We have a strong reason to suspect that the children have taken ill due to the consumption of contaminated water. Prima facie we suspect it could be case of gastro-enteritis. A team of doctors from district medical-cum-hospital and para-medical staff from the nearby are attending to the children at an isolated ward set up at the school”. The Tribal Development Commissionerate has, meanwhile, ordered an inquiry into the incident. It has asked the district medical college to collect water samples of the water from the school well and the one supplied through tankers.
The tribal development department officials have served a show-cause notice on the management of Kasturabai Adivasi Ashram school. In a related development, as a precautionary measure, the district health authorities have, barred the school from using the water from the open well on its premises as well as water supplied through tankers and issued instructions for installation of a Reverse Osmosis (RO) water purifier system for the Ashram.