Archbishop Porter Girls SHS suspends sale of food from suspected source of poisoning

Authorities of the Archbishop Porter Girls Senior High School in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis have suspended the sale of food at the premises of the school over fears of food poisoning that affected about 37 students last Friday.

The Headmistress of the school, Charlotte Asiedu Musah, confirmed this to Citi News on Monday after a meeting with staff of the school.

The headmistress said food from the Teachers’ Welfare shop, the source of the alleged food poison, and water from outside the school will remain suspended until the outcome of a laboratory result being undertaken is made known, and the necessary corrective measures taken to ensure students safety.

The school recorded several students complaining of Diarrhea last Friday morning which led to most of them being sent to the Holy Child Health Center at Fijai where they treated and discharged.

But those who needed further attention were sent back to the school infirmary with supervision from the hospital personnel and in house nurses.

It was later revealed that the possible cause was salad students purchased from the school’s teachers’ welfare shop.

When Citi News arrived in the school on Monday, academic activities had returned to normal, as students were seen moving around, with classes also in session.

All the affected students had been treated and discharged and were back to the classroom.

One of the 37 students who had to seek medical attention after complaining of diarrhoea, Cecilia Mensah told Citi News she is better now.

“On Thursday the school served us Waakye at the dining hall but I bought some salad from the shop to garnish my food. However, on Friday morning, I started feeling pains in my stomach which I thought would go but it didn’t until I together with some other students who were feeling same complained to school authorities who took us to the hospital. They treated us and I am better hence in class.”

The Headmistress of the school, Charlotte Asiedu Musah, who had just completed a meeting with her staff, said academic work is fully in session.

“All the students affected have been duly treated and back to class. As you can see, full academic work is ongoing and teachers are teaching. I also just finished a meeting with staff to brief them on what happened and measures taken So we’re doing fine and all is well with us.”

Madam Asiedu Musah further told Citi News that some corrective measures have been taken to prevent another food poisoning incident in the future.

“The students said they took salad from the Teachers welfare shop so we have put a hold on all the cooked food that are sold at the shop. We have asked them to stop for now. We want to do further checks before they could do anything. So we have put in measures, food and then water that is coming from outside. Our school prepares water. We have our own water purification plant but we have others also bringing some from outside, so we have also put an embargo on the water that is coming from outside. With some of these measures, we would curtail some of these problems that we have had. ”

Meanwhile, the headmistress said they are waiting for results from the specimen sent to laboratory to concretize its decisions.

By:  citinewsroom.com