About 200 Students Of GSSS Batagarawa Hospitalized After Suspected Food Poisoning
About two hundred students of Government Science Secondary School, GSSS Batagarawa, Katsina State, have been hospitalized after suspected food poisoning on Monday, leaving the General Amadi Rimi Orthopedic and Specialist Hospital, GARSH, overwhelmed.
The boarding students were rushed to GARSH, formerly Barrister Ibrahim Shehu Shema Orthopedic Hospital, in a large bus, with videos showing scores of them lying on the floor, crying, with no space to sit as medical personnel scrambled to attend to them.
According to eyewitnesses, the students are currently lying in the hospital following sudden illness suspected to be from contaminated food consumed in the school.
Parents and guardians with children in the school have been urged to urgently contact the school and hospital to confirm the condition of their wards.
A video recorded at the hospital shows the scale of the emergency.
The recorder said: “What you are seeing behind me are about two hundred students who allegedly suffered poisoning in a school in Katsina today. They are boarding students from Government Science Secondary School Batagarawa. As you can see, they are being brought to the hospital in a large bus, and the hospital has nowhere for them to sit. These children are crying, they have nowhere to sit, lying on the floor.”
“The report now is that some children have collapsed, in critical condition. You see how they are being carried upstairs, the hospital capacity might not even be enough for them,” he added.
He appealed to medical doctors in Katsina to rush to GARSH.
“If you know any medical doctor, please rush to assist at General Amadi Rimi Orthopedic and Specialist Hospital. These are students of Government Science Secondary School Batagarawa. A doctor shared this video with me, but up till now the exact number of dead children is not known, nor the exact number in hospital, but they are over a hundred,” he said.
The public has also been urged to share the information to reach affected families and stakeholders for urgent support.
As of the time of filing this report, the Katsina State Government and hospital management are yet to issue official statement on the cause of the incident or the casualty figure.
