Kakinada: A six-year-old boy, Bathina Manohar, died at the King George Hospital (KGH) in Visakhapatnam following acute renal failure after consuming contaminated milk. With this, the death toll in the contaminated milk case has risen to five.
According to KGH superintendent Dr I. Vani, the boy was brought from Rajamahendravaram on February 18 for treatment after both his kidneys failed. Nephrologists performed dialysis nearly 60 times, but Manohar could not be saved.
According to East Godavari district officials, 15 patients are currently undergoing treatment in six private hospitals. Of them, two are on ventilators, three are on dialysis, three are on both ventilator and dialysis support, and seven are in intensive care units.
Milk trader Addala Ganeswara Rao (33) of Narsapuram village in Korukonda mandal was produced before a court on Tuesday and remanded to judicial custody.
Rajamahendravaram Three Town police registered a case against Ganeswara Rao based on a complaint filed by Tadi Sitharamayya, husband of the deceased T. Krishnaveni. Clues and forensic teams are involved in the investigation, and post-mortem samples have been sent to the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory in Vijayawada for examination.
Elaborating on the investigation, Kovvuru DSP G. Deva Kumar said the accused, Addala Ganeswara Rao alias Ganesh (32), was initially booked under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNSS), which was later altered to Sections 103, 105 and 275 on charges of selling adulterated milk resulting in the death of T. Krishnaveni of Gandhipuram.
During interrogation, the accused confessed that he had been running an unauthorised milk collection centre under the name Varalakshmi Dairy in his village for the past 11 years without obtaining any government permission. He admitted that while storing milk collected from local dairy farmers in a freezer, leakage of glycol used in the refrigeration system contaminated the milk.
The DSP said that while inspecting milk stored in the freezer for supply, the accused noticed that milk in one container had frozen at the bottom. He sold the unfrozen upper portion of the milk to customers, including Chonga Ramakrishna, Chonga Govinda Raju, Peddapati Nageswara Rao and Dangeti Nagendra, who later complained that the milk tasted bitter.
The accused informed his brother-in-law, D. Gangadhar of Narendrapuram, about the issue. Gangadhar reportedly warned him that the freezer might be defective and that glycol leakage could have made the milk poisonous, advising him strictly not to sell it. However, motivated by profit, the accused ignored the warning and sold the milk to about 100 to 105 customers on February 16.
Several consumers later complained of bitterness in the milk, and some developed serious health complications requiring hospitalisation. Following the death of T. Krishnaveni, police arrested the accused and produced him before the court for judicial remand.
Police are continuing the investigation to identify milk suppliers, distribution networks and the total number of affected consumers.
The Animal Husbandry department has deployed a team of four veterinary doctors to investigate the case. They collected 41 samples, including milk, water, and dry and green fodder fed to animals, which have been sent to the Veterinary Biological Research Institute in Vijayawada for analysis.
Animal Husbandry department director Damodar Naidu announced that a state-wide drive would be launched to collect and test milk samples.
According to district officials, strong epidemiological evidence points to milk adulteration as the probable cause, and the situation is currently under control. Health commissioner G. Veerapandian and the Director of Food Safety have been deputed to monitor developments.
Food Safety department officials inspected Varalakshmi Dairy and collected samples of milk (500 ml each), paneer, ghee, drinking water and vinegar, which were sent to the food testing laboratory at JNTU, Kakinada. Milk and curd samples collected from affected households were also sent to the VIMTA laboratory in Hyderabad.
The district administration has set up medical camps in the affected areas and deployed 14 surveillance teams, which visited 679 houses and screened 957 families.
Collector Keerthy Chekuri said 293 affected persons from 110 families have been identified so far. Of the 315 blood samples collected, 313 persons were found to be normal, while two showed elevated urea and creatinine levels. The Collector advised people not to consume any milk products supplied by Varalakshmi Dairy.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
