NAIROBI, Kenya, May 27 — Mukumu Girls’ High School has acquired a new purified water station following mass hospitalization of students linked to contaminated food and water.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu says this comes after preliminary investigations by the Ministries of Health and Education indicated that students might have been using contaminated water from a spring that was the main source of water for the school.
Two students died and a total of 108 cases were hospitalized following a gastroenteritis outbreak reported at the school in April.
The Ministry of Education has set aside 16 billion Shillings to dig a fresh borehole which allows the Kakamega County Water and Sanitation Company to provide the precious commodity to the students and school staff.
The Daily Nation quotes the findings of a report which mentions that one of the sources of was a spring across the road. The allegations in the report show that pigs and other livestock are reared upstream and their waste could be released downstream where the spring water is located.
Education Cabinet Secretary Machogu was forced to disband the Mukumu High School Board of Governors in April as well as replace the School Principal following the outbreak which also prompted the closure of the school.
But in the past, the situation at the school worsened as another 82 girls were hospitalized with a ‘strange sickness’ days after they resumed learning following a month-long hiatus in which the schools remained closed to unauthorized persons in order to facilitate investigations.
The students were hospitalized after presenting with symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting, and stomach pain.
About The Author
