Indore (Madhya Pradesh): 22 girl students of Sage university fell ill after consuming stale food provided by the mess. All the students were admitted to a private hospital where 8 of them were discharged after primary treatment whereas 14 are still undergoing treatment at the hospital. The students claim that the hostel staff served them stale and rotten food and they got sick after consuming the same.
However, the university administration rubbished the claims and said that the students had eaten food somewhere out of the hostel. “The students are permitted to visit the city on Sunday, where they have eaten food from various shops. They even brought the food containing non-veg which has a very less shelf life to the hostel and has eaten the food in the morning as well. It is because of that reason, they are experiencing food poisoning,” said Kalpna Dongre, Chief Warden.
The students have been claiming that the food prepared in the morning was served to them after hours. The students started vomiting after a few hours and had a severe head and stomach ache. “The students were admitted one after another diagnosed with food poisoning. 12 of the students are undergoing treatment, where 2 of the students have severe food poisoning,” Anup Pawar, duty doctor.
“Around 22 students were admitted to the hospital out of which one was shifted to the ICCU while others were treated in the OPD unit. The students are now in a stable condition and will soon be discharged as soon as they get well,” Rajesh Lekhi, Hospital manager
Dongre informed the Free Press that the hostel mess has been serving food to over 400 students and staff every day. The breakfast was not only served to the students but also to the teaching and non-teaching staff. We are not allowed to serve the dishes to the students until and unless we taste them.
The students complained of vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain late Sunday night, Sage University registrar Manish Chowdhary said.
"Many students of our hostel had gone to the city during the day and might have returned after consuming food from outside. We have also found out that some students had non-vegetarian food cooked outside the hostel premises on Sunday," Chaudhary said.
There are around 290 students (both male and female) in the university's hostel, but the other students who had food in the mess on Sunday are absolutely fine, he added.
