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43 children fall ill after midday meal at Banaskantha school

The matter came to the attention of the district health officials when 10 girl students from the school were first taken to the local Primary Health Centre

2 min readAhmedabadJan 20, 2026 10:24 PM IST

Food poisoning, water poisoning, Eklavya Model Residential School, Banaskantha,

By Tuesday, a total of 43 students had been admitted with similar complaints of diarrhoea and vomiting. (Express file photo)

A total of 43 students from a school in Banaskantha were admitted to the general hospital in Palanpur after suffering from the effects of possible food or water poisoning, officials said on Tuesday.

The incident took place at the hostel of the Eklavya Model Residential School in Jagana village, which lies 8 km south of the district headquarters of Palanpur, and 138 km north of Ahmedabad.

The matter came to the attention of the district health officials when 10 girl students from the school were first taken to the local Primary Health Centre (PHC) with complaints of diarrhoea and vomiting around 5:30 pm on Monday, said Epidemic Officer Dr Bharmal Patel.

By Tuesday, a total of 43 students had been admitted with similar complaints and all – 38 female and five male students – were moved to the general hospital in Palanpur for treatment where they remained under treatment, said Dr Patel.

Officials said the Gujarat Food and Drugs Control Administration (FDCA) took samples of the food and water from the hostel premises while the health department took samples from the students for testing. Further investigation is on, they added.

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