RIYADH, 25 May 2004 — Twenty elementary schoolgirls from Uraija, east of Riyadh, were taken to Prince Salman Hospital for suspected food poisoning, Al-Madinah newspaper reported yesterday. Many parents expressed anger at the school and teacher’s negligence.
Saad Al-Abdali, a parent, was alerted to his daughter’s situation by the bus driver who called to say the girls were suffering from stomach pains.
The driver told Al-Abdali that he was taking the students to a nearby hospital. Most students were treated and released while the others were kept at the hospital for observation, the daily said. One of the students claimed that after their break, many students had stomach pains and felt dizzy.
The school cafeteria manager refused to believe anything was wrong with the girls and they were released from the school without a medical examination, the newspaper said.
Parents questioned whether the lives of their daughters meant anything to the school’s management. They asked why such a large group of students with the same complaint were not taken seriously and examined by a doctor much earlier.
