A disturbing video from Savitribai Phule Pune University has surfaced showing an employee putting his feet into a drinking water cooler and extracting water to clean the floor at Adarsh Canteen. The incident has sparked outrage among students and staff, as the same cooler supplies drinking water to employees, students, professors, and visitors.
Concerns over unhygienic conditions in university canteens and eateries have already been rising. Students and staff have repeatedly complained about insects and cockroaches in food. The latest incident has raised alarm, especially as Maharashtra faces an outbreak of Guillain-Barré Syndrome.
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Health officials have urged citizens to boil water before drinking due to rising contamination cases. The number of suspected and confirmed GBS cases in the Pune region has reached 197 as five new patients reported. Of these, 172 have been diagnosed with the rare nerve disorder. The affected include 40 from Pune Municipal Corporation areas, 92 from newly added villages under PMC, 29 from Pimpri Chinchwad, 28 from Pune Rural, and eight from other districts.
A total of 104 patients have recovered and been discharged. However, 50 remain in intensive care units, while 20 are on ventilator support. The number of deaths suspected to be linked to GBS stands at 8.
GBS is a rare condition where the immune system attacks the peripheral nerves. It can cause muscle weakness, loss of sensation in the limbs, and difficulty swallowing or breathing.