150 fall ill after partaking of langar in Rajpura

Tribune News Service
Patiala, December

As many as 150 people of Faridpur Gujran village, 8 km from Rajpura, fell ill after partaking of langar organised to commemorate the sacrifice of ‘sahibzaade’ of Guru Gobind Singh.

The villagers had cooked food for the community and put up two stalls, one within the village and the other on the NH 44.

Around midnight, around seven residents of the village, who had partaken of langar, were taken to the Civil Hospital, Rajpura, after symptoms of food poisoning.

After some time, six more villagers reached the hospital with the same symptoms, over the night.

By Tuesday morning, 150 persons were undergoing treatment for food poisoning at the hospital’s emergency ward.

Senior Medical Officer Rajpura, Dr SD Singh, said those admitted at the hospital showed symptoms like nausea and diarrhoea and were given fluids along with some antibiotics.

District epidemiologist Dr Gurmeet Singh said, “Patients were having symptoms of pain in abdomen, vomiting and diarrhoea, Around 150 patients had been admitted to the hospital. Out of these, 110 were discharged by Tuesday evening after their condition improved.

Gurmeet Singh further said that all the patients had confirmed their participation in the community kitchen after which they had developed the symptoms of acute gastroenteritis, the possible cause of which could be food poisoning.

District Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh said, “Soon after the patients started coming to the hospital, health teams reached the village and persuaded the villagers to discontinue the community kitchen.” 

He said the teams took samples of food and drinking water to ascertain the exact cause of the ailment. The district epidemiologist and other teams of doctors had been stationed in the village.

The samples, collected from the village, have already been sent for examination.