Some 1,500 people have taken ill in Vekaria village, many of them children, with symptoms of food poisoning after they reportedly consumed a milk drink distributed among mourners who had come for the Tazia procession.
Some 1,500 people have taken ill in Vekaria village, many of them children, with symptoms of food poisoning after they reportedly consumed a milk drink distributed among mourners who had come for the Tazia procession. Vekaria village is about 30 km from Viramgam town.
More than 400 of them have been sent to hospitals in Dholka, Bavla, Viramgam and Sanand in five 108 ambulances that were summoned to the spot.
Being Muharram, they had expected to be served the ‘doodh’ drink and consumed it between 2.30pm and 4pm. Four drums full of the drink were served to the people. Viramgam DySP RC Pathak said that the drink had been prepared specifically for the participants in the Tazia procession.
Vekaria has a population of around 5,000 people. Residents from seven surrounding villages also came to the village for the Muharram procession. After drinking the milk, they started vomiting and showed symptoms of diarrhea.
Dr NC Patel of the Zilla Panchayat says that four doctors are now treating the ill in the village. People from Viramgam, Vayla and Maeni have also been affected by the drink. Some of them are reportedly in serious condition. Pathak, however, said that the situation was under control by 8 pm and there was no reason to worry as teams of doctors had been sent to the village.
Viramgam rural police sub-inspector CK Rana, who was going to the village, said that more than 200 people had been affected in the village and that their number might go up. Some villagers said that dozens of people had started vomiting and come down with dysentery after 6 in the evening when the procession was about to end.
The incident had caused widespread panic in the village and villagers were running all over the place for treatment. In the absence of doctors, dozens of villagers had rushed to nearby clinics, the civil hospitals in Viramgam, Sanand and even the civil hospital in Ahmedabad city. Ahmedabad (rural) superintendent of police Rajiv Ranjan Bhagat said that the mamlatdar and the SDM had rushed to the village with a team of doctors.
He also said that the beverage made for the mourners had caused the food poisoning. Bhagat, however, said that no casualty had been reported. Several teams of doctors, the police and other organizations were trying to bring the situation under control. Local people, however, said that there is just one public health center (PHC) near the village and that it had only one doctor. This was not inadequate for the village, the local said.
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