Over 20 students of NIT Silchar fall ill after eating momos, 9 admitted to hospital

Silchar, Nov 19: Over 20 students at the National Institute of Technology Silchar were severely affected and nine of them had to be hospitalised after eating momos from a stall outside the campus.

Soon after the issue was brought to the notice of the authorities of the institute, the afflicted students were rushed to Silchar Medical College and Hospital and also to a private hospital.

“Nine students were severely affected, mainly due to food poisoning and had to be hospitalised. Some of the students have already been released in the meantime. We informed the District Health Department and a team of Food Safety officials reached the spot, inspected and collected samples from the concerned momo shop and also from other eateries outside the campus that would be sent for laboratory testing. Also, the officials have given necessary directions to the shops inside the campus, which will be duly taken care of to comply with the directions. The students are doing well and we hope that they will be released soon,” said Prof. KL Baishnab, the registrar of the institute.

Meanwhile, the incident has raised grave concerns about the quality of food served to the people in and around the city. When approached, Dr. Ibrahim Ali, the district surveillance officer from the District Health Department, said that while the task of keeping vigil on the quality of food lies with the Food Safety officials, the ill-effects of such incidents on human lives bring the surveillance of diseases into action to monitor. “This is a clear case of food poisoning owing to eating momos from a nearby shop, as we learned. And the water and food samples have been collected from the concerned shop and other shops for microbial laboratory testing at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital and the reports are awaited,” Dr. Ali said.