Guntur: Stale food take its toll on 10 nursing students

Seven second year and three first year girl nursing students have been reportedly suffering from diarrhea for the past four days. However, the officials concerned did not take any action regarding this and they were forced to depend upon self-treatment. As their condition worsened, they were admitted to GGH on Tuesday. The GGH officials kept the students in a special room in the Podila Prasad millennium block but the incident came to light on Wednesday.

According to students, 15 girls in the nursing hostel are suffering from chickenpox while ten have diarrhea since the past four days. V. Sandhya and other students undergoing treatment at the Podila Prasad millennium block alleged that the hygiene conditions in the hostel are very poor and they were forced to bring water from outside due to shortage of water.

Students alleged that leftover of previous night's dinner is mixed with breakfast the next day.

While the doctors at GGH feel the girls must be treated in special ward at Gorantla fever hospital, the authorities, in order to avoid a controversy, have kept the students in a GGH ward instead of shifting them to infectious diseases ward at Gorantla fever hospital.

Meanwhile, GGH superintendent Dr T. Venugopala Rao said the ill students had consumed chicken biryani at a restaurant in the city and termed it the cause for diarrhea.

He added that the students are now recovering and they would be discharged on Thursday.

Refuting allegations about unhygienic conditions in the hostel, Dr Rao said that of the 200 nursing students in the hostel, only a few fell ill. This clearly indicates that nothing is wrong with the hostel food, he added.