After the mass poisoning of schoolchildren in the Beshshoky residential area of the village of Mangistau in the Munailinsky district, laboratory specialists from the National Centre of Expertise of the Mangistau region identified serious sanitary violations in the school's canteen.
According to Zakon.kz, experts took samples of prepared food and water, as well as tests from the canteen staff.
As it became known, samples of mashed potatoes, chicken patties, sauce, and compote, which the children ate on the day of the poisoning, were found to contain pathogenic bacteria.
In 20% of the swab and smear samples taken in the school canteen, coliform bacteria were found.
Staphylococcus was detected in six canteen employees. Furthermore, the dishwasher and food server turned out to be carriers of dysentery.
"An inspection of medical records established that four canteen workers had undergone medical check-ups fictitiously. A letter has been sent to the regional prosecutor's office and the regional police department. Currently, the Munailinsky District Police Department has initiated a criminal case under Part 1 of Article 304 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and a pre-trial investigation has begun," said Asylbek Sharov, Acting Head of the Department of Sanitary and Epidemiological Control of the Mangistau Region.
It will be recalled that on 6 September, in the Beshshoky residential area of the village of Mangistau in the Munailinsky district of the Mangistau region, primary school pupils were mass poisoned after lunch in the canteen.
The Minister of Health, Akmaraal Alnazarova, stated that a total of 462 school pupils sought medical assistance. 96 of them were hospitalised. Two patients who had been in intensive care were transferred to a general ward. As of 16 September, all those affected had been discharged.
The Minister of Education, Gani Beisembayev, reported that he had ordered inspections to be carried out in all schools across the country.
At the same time, it became known that the school canteen was operated by the sole proprietorship "Shakenova D". It was reported that the enterprise's annual revenue is estimated at 2.5 billion tenge. Most contracts with the company were concluded via a single-source method.
Later, in the Mangistau region, 16 school pupils were poisoned in the village of Beyneu. Doctors suspect that the children were poisoned by water. Specialists took samples from the school canteen and sent them for analysis.