Children undergoing treatment for food poisoning at the King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: K.R. DEEPAK
The death of three children and hospitalisation of 78 others due to suspected food poisoning at a children’s home at Kailasapatnam village in Anakapalli district of Andhra Pradesh brings to light the unauthorised homes being operated without basic amenities for the children from poor background and orphans in Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts.
As per officials, the home being run by Parisudhatma Agni Sthuthi Aradhana (PASA) Trust, owned by Kiran Kumar, has no registration or permission from the government.
Food inspectors, Medical & Health, Revenue and police officials have found that a small tin-roofed shed is home to 93 students, and most of the premises is occupied by trunk boxes of the inmates and furniture. The home does not have proper security, CCTV cameras, and fire equipment.
“The organiser, Kiran Kumar, has been running the trust for the past 10 years. He has no permission. The accused has been arrested and booked under the relevant sections,” says Superintendent of Police M. Deepika.
Preliminary investigation points out sheer negligence as the reason for the deaths.
On August 17 (Saturday) evening, the home had received food items from some donors, which was actually prepared for lunch. The home organisers served samosa, chicken biryani, rice and sambar to 86 children present on that day. A few children complained of severe stomach ache and vomiting late that night.
“Instead of shifting them to a hospital and alerting the authorities, the organisers sent the children to their respective residences, where their condition deteriorated and died. Had they been shifted to a hospital, they would have survived,” said V. Abhishek, Project Officer, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA).
“We received information about the death of three tribal children in Chintapalli mandal. They consumed food at the home run in Anakapalli district,” he added.
“We created a mini-control room. After collecting the data of the inmates, we contacted their parents, sachivalayam staff, deployed health staff and shifted the children using ambulances to various hospitals in Anakapalli, ASR and Visakhapatnam districts,” Mr. Abhishek said.
As of August 20 (Tuesday) evening, 78 children were undergoing treatment at various hospitals. Of them, 40 were in the tribal wing of the King George Hospital (KGH) in Visakhapatnam.
ASR District Collector Sumit Kumar, who visited KGH late on August 19, shifted 10 of them to three private hospitals for advanced treatment as a precautionary measure. The remaining were undergoing treatment at Narsipatnam and Paderu.