148 Students Hospitalized in a Nyamira Girls School
On Wednesday, July 19, 148 girls from Ikonge PAG Girls Secondary School in Nyamira County were taken to the hospital with severe stomachaches.
Director of Education for the Nyamira North Sub-County, Claire Oyula, arrived at the school to assess the situation and observed that the students had been transported to various facilities.
According to reports, the students became ill after drinking contaminated water.
The preponderance of students were taken to Ekerengo Hospital for specialized care.
It was unclear what caused the contamination of the water at the public school with more than 330 students.
In addition, officials from the Ministry of Education were sent to the school to provide guidance.
Since the beginning of the year, cases of water and food contamination in schools, primarily boarding schools, have increased, with the worst case occurring at Mukumu Girls in Kakamega.
On April 3, Mukumu Girls was closed due to a severe outbreak of gastroenteritis that claimed the lives of three students and one teacher.
While the school was temporarily closed, 124 students were admitted to Kakamega Referral Hospital.
At the end of May, Education CS Ezekiel Machogu introduced new guidelines for the procurement of food and water by all institutions in the country.
First, all schools were required to establish a safety subcommittee charged with ensuring that the institution complies with all sanitation regulations and has systems in place to safeguard all students in the event of a disease outbreak.
The Ministry also increased the transportation of its officers to schools for routine inspections and mandated that all institutions reduce the amount of food they purchase.
148 Students Hospitalized in a Nyamira Girls School