After consuming the breakfast, many students started feeling sick and 17 students were taken to a primary health centre.
Hyderabad: The students of a girls’ hostel attached to a government school in Medak district of Telangana had their breakfast as usual on Tuesday. But little did they know that the first meal of the day they were having had an unwanted and undesirable ingredient, a lizard. The incident took place on Tuesday, said an official.
After consuming the breakfast, many students started feeling sick and 17 students were taken to a primary health centre in Ramayampet Mandal and two students with stomach pain were shifted to another hospital. The official said the other 15 students were discharged from the health centre.
A cook and an assistant cook were dismissed for purported negligence following the discovery of a “lizard” in the breakfast, while the caretaker and the Special Officer of the Model School Girls’ Hostel received show cause notices, according to the Medak District Educational Officer (DEO).
The DEO refuted media reports claiming that the students had become sick from food poisoning.
The District Education Officer, upon investigating the matter, reported to the higher authorities, including the District Collector, that a “lizard” was found in the “upma” served to students. One student spotted the lizard during breakfast.
The caretaker immediately directed the students to cease eating and promptly escorted 17 students who had consumed the meal to the nearby Primary Health Centre in Ramayampet. Subsequently, an additional 70 students were taken to the health centre for examination.
The doctor conducted examinations on all the students, who were then observed for six hours for symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and high fever, indicative of food poisoning. Nonetheless, the report stated that no such symptoms were detected.
“Except two students who were suffering with stomach pain, all the remaining 15 students were discharged from the hospital. Both the students have been shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Medak,” the DEO said in the report.
(With PTI inputs)
