Emergency : 32 children brought to PIMS with food poisoning

Madrassa students fall sick after eating food donated from a nearby house

ISLAMABAD: At least 32 children, suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, were brought to the emergency ward of PIMs Children Hospital on Friday morning.

According to doctors, all of the children were from a local seminary. They fell sick after eating food that had turned bad overnight, doctors said.

The children aged between eight and 14 were from Madrassa Tehsilul-Quran, Sector G-11/1. The seminary’s administrator and staff had brought them to the facility.

A madrassa teacher Naeemur Rehman told Daily Express that the food had come from a nearby house where a wedding was going on. Since it was late in the night, the children had gone to bed. Therefore, instead of dinner it was served at breakfast.

However, it had turned bad overnight. The madrassa administration, without checking it, fed it to the 120 children studying at the facility.

While all of the children had the same food, 32 fell sick right after consuming the food, complaining of stomach ache and started vomiting.

Alarmed, the madrassa administration quickly took the sick students to PIMS.

Doctors said that by evening, 25 of the children had fully recovered while seven were still recuperating under observation.

He also said that the sick children’s parents had also been informed about the situation. Owais Ghani father of two children under treatment at PIMS said he was satisfied with the services provided.

Due to the doctors’ quick treatment, the children seemed to be doing fine, he said.

PIMS Dr Farrukh Kamal said that the children were now recovering. However, 11-year old Bashir and 13-year old Owais were still under observation.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2018.