4 more girls of Kolkata school admitted to RG Kar hospital with complaints of fever, dizziness

Four more students of Kolkata’s Park Institution for Girls were admitted to the paediatric department of RG Kar Hospital on Tuesday, a day after 24 students of the same school were hospitalised with complaints of fever, abdominal pain and dizziness.

All the students reside in the school’s hostel near Deshbandhu Park.

Twenty-four students were taken to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Monday evening, when they reportedly fell ill after returning to the hostel, officials said.

Of those admitted on Monday, 21 students are likely to be discharged on Tuesday, while three were being kept under observation as they continue to have fever, hospital sources said.

The four students admitted on Tuesday have reported similar symptoms, including fever, vomiting, headache, abdominal pain and dizziness. Doctors at the paediatric department are awaiting blood test reports to ascertain whether the fever is linked to an infection, the sources said.

A team led by West Bengal Health Department Joint Director (Public Health) Debashis Roy visited the hospital on Tuesday morning and met the students undergoing treatment.

A team from the National Institute for Research in Bacterial Infections (ICMR-NIRBI) also visited the hospital. “After seeing the patients and speaking to the doctors, it appears that in most cases, a panic attack could be the reason for the illness. There is nothing to worry about,” Roy told reporters.

He said all necessary blood tests had been conducted and the Government was awaiting the reports before arriving at any conclusion.

Asked whether contaminated food or water could have caused the illness, Roy said it was a possibility, but advised against drawing any conclusion before the test reports were available.

“If we say something abruptly, it could turn out to be incorrect,” he said.

Roy said the health condition of all the students was stable. Food poisoning was initially suspected to be one of the causes, after the students complained of falling ill after having food at the hostel. However, the sources said the symptoms observed in the students were not typical of those associated with food poisoning.

Doctors had also indicated that several students appeared to have experienced panic or fear.

Health officials and doctors are examining the circumstances under which so many students fell ill at the same time.

The incident had also prompted the state’s Health Minister Sharadwat Mukhopadhyay to visit RG Kar Hospital on Monday night.