NEET aspirant dies in Kota, 35 students unwell; water contamination suspected

An 18-year-old NEET aspirant diagnosed with hepatic encephalopathy died during treatment at a private hospital in Kota, an official said on Saturday.

Victim Vaibhav Roy was among the 36 students from Jawahar Nagar area in Kota who were suffering from the disease in the last few days.

Of these, 18 have recovered, while the others are under treatment at three private hospitals.

Hepatic encephalopathy is nervous system disorder brought on by a severe liver disease.

Kota chief medical and health officer Dr Jagdish Soni told PTI that three water suppliers in the area were found to be supplying contaminated drinking water to coaching institutes, hostels, and canteens.

However, he said the exact cause of Roy's death will be ascertained through a death audit, which is underway.

Roy was a native of West Bengal but was living with his family in Kaithun town in Kota for several years.

Dr Rajiv Sharma, who treated Roy, said he was admitted to the hospital for fever and jaundice on October 5, but within a couple of days, he was diagnosed with hepatic encephalopathy.

There was a swelling in his brain which turned severe and he died on Thursday, Dr Sharma added.

Thirty five other students were tested positive for hepatitis-A recently.

Following this, a team from the health department collected at least 65 samples of water from various sources, Dr Soni said, adding three water suppliers were found to be providing contaminated water to coaching institutes, hostels and canteens among other places

"At least 10-12 coaching students are getting treated for hepatitis-A for over a week," Dr K K Pareek of S N Pareek Memorial and Multi-specialty Hospital, where most of these students are admitted, said.

"The infection is most likely to have been caused by contaminated water and food as liver enzymes of the patients were found to be alarmingly high, but all of them are improving," he said.

Kota (city) additional district magistrate Brij Mohan Bairwa said the CMHO has been directed to probe the matter and a report from him is awaited.