Dozens of Ikonge school girls hospitalised over suspected food poisoning

Dozens of schoolgirls from Ikonge Girls High School in Nyamira County have been admitted to various hospitals in the devolved unit after suffering from a mysterious poisoning.

The 138 students were rushed to various hospitals in Nyamira County after complaining of acute diarrhoea and vomiting, which authorities believe was caused by consuming either contaminated water or food.

According to the school administration, many of the pupils exhibited symptoms of stomach ache, which developed into vomiting and diarrhoea, forcing the management to call for an emergency intervention, including urging parents to take their children for urgent medical attention.

Hundreds of other panicked students were rushed to the nearby Ekerenyo sub-county hospital, where 90 of them were admitted after various tests were conducted to determine the nature of their illnesses.

Other students were admitted to Mogumo Health Centre in Nyamira County, where parents were desperately trying to get them transferred to a better equipped hospital for proper medical care.

Some of the students admitted at Ekerenyo Hospital were seen walking awkwardly, while others appeared to be struggling to make coherent movements.

Some of the students were seen leaning on their classmates to help them walk. Others looked devastated and dehydrated.

Nyamira education officials rushed to the school to assess the situation after the large number of pupils fell ill.

Nyamira North Sub County Education Director, Clare Oyula said, "We were told that the students were unwell; they had stomach aches and diarrhoea. Arrangements were made to take them to Ekerenyo and Mogumo in Ikonge.

The education official said her department had liaised with health officials to get the students admitted for urgent medical attention.

Nyamira health officials were also sent to the school to collect samples and determine the real cause of the apparent acute poisoning.

"We have sent a team to the school to confirm what exactly the problem is. The students are presenting with lower abdominal pain, diarrhoea and vomiting. It's a similar presentation everywhere," said Nyamira County Health Executive Committee member Dr Timothy Ombati.

He noted, "We came to the school to ascertain the cause of this problem and then monitor it from there, even if it requires us to take some more measures than what we've done here, but once we get to the final destination.

Anxious parents who visited their children lamented that they did not know the cause of the problem, which left the pupils with severe stomach aches, diarrhoea and vomiting.