JJ Hospital on Saturday discharged 79 of the 87 inmates from Byculla jail, who were admitted on Thursday night after they showed symptoms of food poisoning. The patients included one male prisoner, 85 women prisoners and a four-month-old son of a woman inmate.
M.B. Tayade, Dean, JJ Hospital, said, “We weren’t able to detect what caused the symptoms. We initially suspected it to be a case of cholera as patients were vomiting and had diarrhoea, but since being admitted they have not shown any of these symptoms. Tests indicate that their electrolytes are at normal levels.”
Doctors also ruled out the possibility of inmates contracting an infection through doxycyline, a preventive medication for cholera, which was administered to them on Thursday. The discharged patients were given medication for gastritis and their medical reports were handed over to the jail authorities. The eight patients still undergoing treatment include four women and one man in the medicinal ward, and three women in the gynaecology ward.
Dr. Ashish Varakunand, who works in the medicinal ward, said, “Two women inmates are anaemic. Their haemoglobin levels are as low as low 5 and 5.5. The other two are dehydrated and have high creatinine levels. The male patient is being treated for dehydration.”
The inmates in the gynaecology ward are 22 to 24 weeks pregnant and have been kept under observation. Dr. Villas Kurude, who works in the gynaecology ward, said, “Since they are pregnant, we wanted to keep them under observation for 48 hours.”
Meanwhile, a team from the State Commission for Women (SCW) visited Byculla jail and JJ Hospital on Saturday. Advocate Asha Langde, who works with SCW, said, “We made a routine visit to Byculla jail 15 days ago to inspect its living conditions. Everything seemed to be in order then. We were surprised to learn about the outbreak because the inmates had told us that good food was served in the jail at regular intervals.”
Ms. Langde said that JJ Hospital authorities informed SCW that the illness could have been contracted through consumption of contaminated food or water. She said, “The inmates told us today that the food served in the jail in the past week was disagreeable. This is likely to have happened owing to the monsoon and not because of the lack of upkeep in the jail.”
Ms. Langde said the SCW would issue a notice to the jail by Monday or Tuesday, and would conduct a surprise visit within the next two weeks.
While 79 patients were discharged at 6 p.m. on July 21, eight new patients were admitted at 7 p.m. “They complained of vomiting, dehydration and loose motions. We are treating them accordingly,” the hospital’s medical superintendent Sanjay Surase said. Four patients were discharged on the same day while four others have been admitted to the hospital.
