Panic as over 120 Tshwane pupils hospitalised with diarrhoea 

122 pupils from a high school in Mamelodi, east of Tshwane, ended up in local healthcare facilities on Wednesday with stomach pains, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea. 

The City of Tshwane’s emergency services had to dispatch six ambulances, a large patient transporter and an incident bus to the learners at Vlakfontein Secondary School on Wednesday morning. 

School authorities said the pupils had begun complaining of sore and runny stomachs since the first period of the day. 

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The school also received calls from parents when ill learners could not make it to school. These learners had to be transported to hospital privately. 

Two professional nurses and a school nurse responded to the urgent health crisis and helped treat learners before they were taken to health facilities for further care. 

Authorities said the most affected pupils were in Grade 12. The school said the last meal the learners ate at school was on Tuesday. 

Food samples were collected by environmental health practitioners for testing. It is not known if they are suffering from food poisoning.