38 children fall sick due to contaminated water in Mumbai

Thirty-eight children, including 14 girls, have been put under strict medical observation following severe gastroenteritis attack, displaying symptoms of acute diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, in an adivasi ashram at Tavkheda in the Dhule district of northern Maharashtra, over 350 km from Mumbai.

The Tribal Development Commissionerate has ordered an enquiry into the incident and asked the district medical college to collect water sample of the borewell and supply tankers. A show-cause notice has also been issued to Kasturabai Adivasi Ashramshala at Tavkheda in Sindkheda taluka which runs classes from first to tenth standard.

The incident came to light in the early hours of Wednesday. A team of seven doctors from Dhule District Health Hospital (DDHH) are camping at the spot, treating the  children in makeshift wards at the ashram.

Three children with severe symptoms were admitted to Dhule Civil Hospital, while seven others have been placed under observation at Government Health Centre in Nardana.
Talking to Deccan Herald from Dhule, DDHH chief Arvind More said: “Initially, only 34 children displayed the symptoms, but on Thursday, three more children were placed under treatment after they complained of sickness. Samples of water as well as blood and stool of the children have been sent for tests. We can determine the cause only after the tests.

Right now, it will be improper to come to any conclusion. However, preliminary enquiries point towards consumption of water as a probable cause. Going by the symptoms as well as the recovery of the children who are stable, we have ruled out cholera.”

To a query whether the gastroenteritis attack could have been due to food poisoning, More, replying in the negative, pointed out that there “are 376 children in the ashram. If the symptoms were caused because of food consumption then all the children would have displayed the symptoms.”

As a precautionary measure, the ashram authorities have stopped using the borewell water, as well as that supplied by the tankers.