More students of Queens College are said to be visiting hospital on daily basis following the outbreak of diarrhea in the school. It would be recalled that many pupils of the school had taken ill after eating spaghetti and water said to have been contaminated.
Two of them were reported to have died from the incident.
According to a parent whose child had been admitted at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Lagos State, no fewer than 15 pupils of the school were receiving treatment in the hospital.
Acording to the parent, “My daughter did not show any symptom until about two weeks ago. We took her to a private clinic in our area, where she stayed for five days without any improvement.
“Then, we took her to a standard hospital where some consultants battled with the infection. After I had spent about N150,000, I was advised to take her to LUTH.
“In LUTH, I saw a lot of Queen’s College parents with their children. We were about 15 in number. Just yesterday, they brought a girl in school uniform. She was brought by her parents directly from the school. Unfortunately, while some of our children are struggling to survive, the school is trying to manage its reputation by lying that all is well.
“They are bringing pupils on a daily basis. The school authority and the Federal Ministry of Education are paying lip service to this unfolding incident.”
Another parent said one of the doctors attending to the children cautioned that pupils who had yet to show any sign of infection were more at risk. He said:
“We were told that the more the bacterial stays dormant in the body of the girls, the more dangerous it would be. There is a need for the school management to sensitise all the parents whose children have not fallen ill to take urgent action. It is dangerous for pupils to still be using that environment because the infection has not been isolated.”