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Two school cooks arrested as 100 pupils suffer suspected food poisoning
A health worker at MUKJ Medical Clinic attending to one of the pupils who reportedly suffered food poisoning at Goldren Learnining Centre Nursery and Primary School in Mityana District on September 27,2023. ENOCK MATOVU
What you need to know:
The affected pupils, according to police preliminary investigations started complaining of stomach ache, headache and later vomiting after eating a meal of posho and beans
Police in Mityana District were Thursday evening still holding two male chefs at Golden Learning Centre Nursery and Primary School in Namungo Central Village, Namungo Sub County after about 100 pupils were hospitalized after suffering suspected food-poising.
The affected pupils, according to police preliminary investigations started complaining of stomach ache, headache and later vomiting after eating a meal of posho and beans on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident happened at around 2pm after the pupils had completed rehearsals in music, dance and drama ahead of the school’s Speech Day fete slated for November.
As the health condition of the pupils started to worsen, teachers and residents neigbouring the school used boda boda motorcycle to rush the victims to various health facilities, including Namungo Health Centre III Koyada Medical Clinic and MUKJ Medical Clinic, among others.
According to Ms Racheal Kawala, the Wamala Regional Police spokesperson, two cooks at the school are behind bars to help them with investigations.
“We have the two cooks in our custody at Mityana Central Police Station to aid our ongoing investigations. Food samples from the school kitchen have also been collected by our Evidence Response Unit and taken to government Analytical Laboratory in Kampala for forensic analysis,” she said.
Ms Kawala said most of the victims were discharged on Wednesday evening, leaving about 50 under medical monitoring at MUKJ Medical Clinic, but in a stable condition.
“No fatalities have been reported at this time,” she added.
This is not the first case of food poisoning to be reported in the country this year.
Recent incidents:
On January 7 this year at least 100 people were admitted to different health units in Rubanda District after suffering food poisoning during burial at Kitahurira Village ,Ikimba Sub County . It was later discovered that the food served at the burial was poorly prepared and had microorganisms and bacteria.
On July 20, about 150 students of Nakanyonyi Secondary School in Nagalama, Mukono District were hospitalised on suspected food poisoning.
In October last year, five nursing trainees attached to Kalisizo General Hospital got admitted after eating suspected poisonous food.
The victims who were trainees from Rakai Community School of Nursing in Rakai District were among the 18 posted to Kalisizo General Hospital for internship.
The victims –two boys and three girls bought roasted chicken from one of the local restaurants in Kalisizo Town and after eating it they complained of severe stomach pain.
On March 12, 2020, 78 pupils of Kagumu Primary School in Kibuku District survived death after eating food suspected to be poisonous .The victims complained of stomachache and vomiting after having their dinner of posho and beans at around 7pm.
