Mystery shrouds insecticide deaths

With the forensic report on samples collected from a government primary school in Bihar, where 23 children died after consuming insecticide-laced midday meals, yet to come, it remained unknown, four days after the tragedy, if the food contamination was accidental or result of a conspiracy. On Friday, parents of over 20 sick children from the school receiving treatment at the Patna Medical College and Hospital once again came face to face with death when a minor explosion in an air conditioner was reported in the premier hospital’s paediatric ward. Hospital staff worked hard to contain a gas leak from the air conditioner cylinders after possibly an electric short circuit. These sick children, all survivors of the midday meal disaster in Chapra district, and some 200 other sick children had to be moved out from the ward. “There was no casualty. Nothing was damaged and everything was brought under control within half an hour. Trouble began when a mechanic was repairing the air conditioners. All the little patients were then brought back,” said Dr R.K. Himanshu, a paediatric specialist at PMCH.