Over 300 AMU women students taken to hospital after food poisoning

More than 300 women students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) were taken to a hospital on Wednesday morning with symptoms of food poisoning, authorities said. They started showing the symptoms after dinner at their hostel the previous night.

By the afternoon, almost all of them were discharged from the university’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, they said.

“The girls started coming in early morning and we treated about 300 girls. Once they showed improvement, we discharged them. We are constantly monitoring the health of all the girls,” the hospital’s chief superintendent, Dr Haaris Manzoor Khan, said. They were residents of the Begum Azeezun Nisa Hall, he added.

The Begum Azeezun Nisa Hall of the AMU is a women’s hostel with a capacity of accommodating 1,500 students.

As the news of the incident spread, district authorities rushed a team of health officials to take samples of food stored at the hotel’s dining area and kitchens.

District health officials and food inspectors have collected food samples from the hostel, an university official said.

An AMU spokesperson said that a three-member committee has been set up to investigate the matter.

Office bearers of the AMU Teachers’ Association (AMUTA) will hold a meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss the situation.