As many as 75 students of the Government Women’s Polytechnic College (WPT) staying in the hostel were hospitalised from late in the evening on Sunday to Monday afternoon as they complained of dysentery, stomach upset and vomiting sensation.
It is suspected that it could be a result of consuming contaminated water or food. They were admitted in the disaster management ward of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH). District Collector T.N. Hariharan visited the students and enquired about their health.
CMCH Dean A. Edwin Joe said the girls were given oral regeneration therapy and administered with drips and they were in sound health. “Only a handful of them suffered vomiting and dysentery while others said that they had such symptoms.”
Police said that 58 of those hospitalised were discharged on Monday evening.
College authorities claimed that more than 900 students were studying in the college and that around 180 of them were staying in the hostel.
They were served dhal and rice for lunch on Sunday, tomato rice for supper, and idly with sambar for breakfast, on Monday.
Around 7.30 p.m. on Sunday, nearly 30 girls were brought to the hospital and the others were admitted between Monday morning and afternoon.
College principal A. Chellathai said that only a few students suffered dysentery and vomiting and others only feared that they might also have such sickness. “We did not want to take any chance so all of them were taken to the hospital,” she said and added that the Education Department officials in Chennai were updated on the developments.
Corporation Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan said the Corporation had taken water and food samples from the hostel mess to ascertain the reason.
Health team
He said that following the information, a health team from the Central Zone went to the college to check what the problem was. The team helped clean the water tank that supplied water to the hostel and mess and gave fresh supply of water. It also supervised in cleaning the kitchen and the campus.
It had also sent the samples to government laboratories to check what caused the problem. The Corporation had conducted a medical camp involving five doctors and 10 nurses to screen students, including day scholars, for symptoms of vomiting or diarrhoea. City Health Officer C. Santhosh Kumar said that the Corporation would continue to run the camp for the next two days.
The principal said the hostel mess and kitchen will also be sanitised and repainted.
Following the incident, the college announced closure for carrying out cleaning and maintenance works. College sources hinted that it would reopen for the day scholars on Friday and for hostel inmates on Monday.
