Ramechhap, March 1

As many as 53 students were taken ill at Manthali Secondary School in Ramechhap today.

After the students fell ill, they were sent to the hospital and then home, according to head teacher Tanka Prasad Dahal.  Normally sick students are sent home while pupils with high fever are sent to Tamakoshi Hospital.

Staff nurse Manju Adhikari at the health centre of the school said students were sent home and the hospital after preliminary treatment at the centre. Adhikari said that pupils might have fallen ill due to viral fever.  The province government has deployed a nurse at the school under its one school, one nurse programme.

The ill students are from grade VI to grade X. A source at the Tamakoshi Hospital said that many people had fallen ill due to fever outside the school as well. Dr Kesab Dhami at the hospital said the students had viral fever.