December 18, 2007

So I herd

A few days ago, 34 kids from a municipal school in Dadar fell ill after drinking flavoured milk, supplied by the municipality. That report tells us: "[S]ome of them started complaining of headache and stomach ache. Their eyes started watering and they even felt like vomiting."

The kids, 23 boys and 11 girls, were admitted to the KEM Hospital.

Samples of the milk that the municipality supplied were tested by the ... municipality itself, in its own laboratory. Today's Hindustan Times (Dec 18) reports that Additional Municipal Commissioner Madhav Sangle says "senior analysts found no bacterial content in the milk."

So what caused the illness?

Sangle has an answer: "It might be because of an empty stomach condition or even herd mentality - where one feels like vomiting seeing someone else vomiting."

True. Happens to me all the time. To my 33 friends too. In fact, whenever my eyes start watering, theirs do too.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dilip,
Nothing new in it, this happens all the time. (Not the stomach-ache incident, but the lab sample test as you said)
Somehow, the sample which the municipalty tests in its labs is always a very good sample, while the ones supplied to the citizens are usually not upto the mark.
And there is no one to question the Municipalty as to why this happens. Sheer negligence? I think not. The food supplied to the kids is through private contractors appointed by the municipalty. Now, the amount of tacit understanding between these contractors and the municipal authorities is anybody's guess

Viswanathan said...

Herd mentality- possibly.

But there is something in concluding about the drinking milk on a empty stomach.

Prasoon said...

For once, i am NOT surprised again by such a news snippet. The government in Indian state, the officials - you already know what should be done of them.

Sad that this happened!