It’s the Same Story Once Again

Patna/Chhapra. 22 students of a primary school die due to midday meal laced with organic phosphorus, a deadly chemical used as insecticide/pesticide. Just how the poison made its way into the meal, is a question that can be best answered by the way things go around in India.
From terrorist attacks, to rapes on roads to the Uttarakhand tragedy, it is the same story again and again. We all seem to neglect simple rules of safety when all seems to be well. In the Mambai terror attacks, miscreants had made their way into the posh Taj with arms and ammunition undetected.

So far so good with the metal detection system installed, almost everywhere in VVIP surroundings. In Uttarakhand shops, hotels and dharmshalas were built in the path of a river. Police men at Delhi failed to respond to calls from a running bus till the tortured duo were thrown out of it. People in remote areas are still apt to use discarded bottles and jars for use in the kitchen.
From what we may call inputs in the Gandaman Primary School case of Saran district, 90km northwest of Patna, it may be presumed that a discarded pesticide can was used to store edible cooking oil in the kitchen shed for midday meals. It went into the food and killed as many as 22 students all between age 4 to 10.

As usual, a hue and cry was raised and search for a scape goat established. The HM who had forced the students to finish their meals has become the prime suspect by default. She may have forced the students just as usual. Most students keep complaining about midday meals and it may have been a routine affair. But things worsened when students started to drop and die. Guessing trouble the HM eloped with her husband who runs a grocery shop.
This simple act of escaping the wrath has given the government to lash back against the opposition. The HM and her husband are now claimed to be connected with the opposition. The opposition had seen to it that things went from bad to worse for the ruling Nitish government. From torching vehicles and turning the school into a graveyard they did everything to spur up an issue against the government.
No Pam in hospital stock

“We did not have the Pam antidote in stock. In fact, we do not keep it in stock because organophosphor poisoning is rare. said a senior official at the Chhapra Sadar Hospital. We sent officials to the market but they could not find it in the medical stores. They managed to get a few ampoules from the wholesaler,” said Dr Shaligram Vishwakarma, the medical officer at the Chhapra Sadar Hospital.
Pam could have saved lives
J.P.N. Barnawal, a doctor at the paediatrics department of PMCH, said: “There is a hundred per cent chance of a patient’s survival if the antidote is given on time. Organophosphorus is so toxic in nature that it can damage the entire nervous system and lead to death if treatment is not started early.”
Missing antedotes
Atropine, pralidoxime and benzodiazepine are standard antidotes for organophosphorus poisoning. “These antidotes should be present in most hospitals,” said B. Suresh Shetty, professor of forensic medicine at the Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore. The Chhapra hospital had around 2000 atropine ampoules, but that would not have been enough to treat 50 patients.
Organophosphorus
Organophosphorus compounds are key ingredients of insecticides used to protect grains from infestation. Guidelines for the use of organophosphorus compounds demand that all food stuff and water supplies should be kept away from the area where these compounds are kept. Old containers of pesticides should not be used after washing as they could still retain residues. Organophosphorus poisoning can lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, muscle weakness, abnormal heart rhythm, cardiovascular collapse.