Indore : Three children died and 12 fell ill in the last two days at Shri Yugpurush Dham Baudhik Vikas Kendra, a special school for specially-abled children, located in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district, an official said on Tuesday. The sick children were admitted to the Government Chacha Nehru Hospital in the city on Tuesday morning.
Upon getting information about the incident, District Collector Ashish Singh ordered an investigation into the incident, following which ADM Rajendra Raghuvanshi and officials from the Food Department reached the ashram to investigate the matter.
ADM Raghuvanshi told ANI, "On Tuesday morning, we received information that a few children died and some were suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea at Shri Yugpurush Dham Ashram here. The sick children were admitted to hospital. A total of three children died so far, of these one died on June 30 and two children on July 1. Besides, 12 children suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea have been admitted to Chacha Nehru Hospital today."
"An investigation into the matter is underway and a team of doctors and food safety along with a team of municipal corporations were sent for investigation. The Food Safety Department has taken the samples from the spot and after its examination, the reason for the incident will be known," he added.
Post-mortem of two children has been done and a detailed report is yet to arrive. After the detailed report, the actual reason for the death will be ascertained, the officer said, adding that a total of 204 used to live here and after the death of three children, now there are 201 children.
Collector Ashish Singh told "As soon as I came to know about 12 children who fell ill at Shri Yugpurush Dham institution, they were immediately admitted to Chacha Nehru Hospital. Along with this, when the team along with ADM, CMHO and officials from the food department reached the spot, it was found that two children had died yesterday and one child died on June 30."
"An investigation committee has been formed under the leadership of ADM which will investigate the post-mortem report and the conditions at the spot. Action will be taken after the investigation report," he added.
The main focus for the time being is that the treatment of the admitted children should be done properly and no other children should be affected anymore. The institution is operated by an NGO and children with disabilities and orphans used to live here, the collector added.
On the other hand, the Superintendent of Chacha Nehru Hospital, Dr Preeti Malpani told , "12 children came to our hospital this morning from an ashram, located on Panchkuiya Road in the city. They have been suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea since yesterday night, these children are disabled, visually impaired and mentally abnormal."
All the children were dehydrated and the condition of two children was critical. All are undergoing treatment. 11 children are between 12 and 15 years of age and one child is five years old, she added.