Rumphi Teacher Training College (TTC) students have attributed to water supply shortages an outbreak that saw over 100 students rushed to Rumphi District Hospital after complaining of stomachache and diarrhoea this week.

One of the students, Philip Chisale said the boys hostels are worst affected by the intermittent water supply.

He claimed that at times, the facilities go beyond 24 hours without a drop of water, which poses sanitation challenges in the toilets when they want to answer the call of nature.

He said: “We don’t have pit latrines at the school and we are forced to use flush toilets even in the absence of water.

Nkhoma: Students were treated as outpatientsafter

“That also means no water to clean ourselves after using the toilet. The poor hygiene conditions caused by erratic water supply and unavailability of pit latrines may have contributed to the incident.”

Another student Gertrude Musaika said it was the first time they have experienced such an incident since the college opened earlier this year.

The college’s principal Wisdom Nkhoma on Tuesday said students who were rushed to hospital received oral rehydration salts (ORS) and fragile and were treated as outpatients.

Meanwhile, Rumphi District Hospital spokesperson Bwanalori Mwamlima said samples of water and food which the students ingested were being tasted to determine the cause of the sickness.

Rumphi TTC was officially opened on May 1 2023 and currently the college has an enrollment capacity of atleast 550 students. n

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