STERN action will be taken if a health investigation traces the food poisoning among students of Sekolah Izzuddin Shah in Ipoh on April 6 to the canteen.

Perak Education, Higher Education and Human Resource Committee chairman Ahmad Saidi Mohamad Daud said they were waiting for a complete report from the state Health Department (JKN) on the bout of diarrhoea among some students.

“Of course, if we receive a complete report from JKN that the school food operator (canteen) has done something wrong, appropriate action will be taken to prevent a recurrence as it involves health issues among students,” he added.

He said this after attending the Perak Federation of Peninsular Malay Students Baju Raya programme with orphans at a supermarket at the Gopeng Rural Transformation Centre in Gopeng today.

According to Saidi, his committee had referred the school for investigation after the incident spread on social media, to find the real cause for mitigation measures to be taken.

“However, the health clinic found that the students were not critical so they were allowed to return to the hostel for normal treatment, while the school granted them additional leave,” he said.

“So far only one school has reported food poisoning and said there were worms in the food while its students coming down with diarrhoea.

Last Monday, the school’s principal Ahmad Munawir Salehuddin said on the official Facebook page of Sekolah Izzuddin Shah that the school management had taken appropriate measures of informing the district health office, with wardens monitoring the situation.

His statement was made after the viral message of a father who was upset when he was not informed about his son who was lying in the school clinic for three days since the day of food poisoning and only found out after his son contacted him last Friday when his condition had improved.

Munawir reportedly said early symptoms were detected last Wednesday when a fourth former had diarrhoea before cases escalated, causing the warden to isolate sick students for monitoring and informed police through school liaison officers.

Last Thursday, a day after the incident, the school management detected more students with similar symptoms and they were taken to the Greentown Health Clinic where all of them were diagnosed as non-critical. – Bernama, April 16, 2022.