Date:04/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/04/stories/2007010406520100.htm

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38 persons taken ill after dinner

Special Correspondent

They included delegates, police personnel for the science meet

CHIDAMBARAM: Some of the delegates who came to attend the 94th Indian Science Congress at Annamalai University and police personnel on security duty had taken ill after having dinner served at the venue on Tuesday night.

Idlis and curd rice were served in containers covered with aluminium foil to ensure hygiene. Thirty-eight 38 persons, including scientists, drivers, technicians and policemen, suffered nausea and were admitted to Rajah Muthiah Medical College Hospital on the university premises.

Except two, others were treated as outpatients and discharged the same night. According to hospital sources, while one of them is under observation, another person was treated for an ailment that has got nothing to do with food intake.

It is learnt that the delegates who had fallen ill had come from Kolkata and Delhi. The sources said those treated were suffering from hypertension, giddiness, leg pain, sinusitis and so on.

As many as 4,000 people partook in the dinner at the same venue from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.. Had it been food poisoning, it would have taken 24 hours (incubation period) for the symptoms to show, said the sources, terming the sickness "travellers' diarrhoea."

The organisers said they took all care on deciding the menu for all three times a day. The food was prepared in the most hygienic manner, they said.

Food shortage

The organisers found it difficult to cope with the food requirements of thousands of delegates, a large number of mediapersons, security personnel and hundreds of volunteers on Tuesday night. There was also chaos in providing accommodation to delegates and mediapersons.