Over 150 people in a village have been taken ill after attending a marriage feast at Chirtungdhara in Bagnaskali Rural Municipality, Palpa on Saturday. The attendees started feeling sick a day later and the number of people falling ill has been increasing since Tuesday.

According to health workers deployed in the area, family members of over 100 families from Budhakhande, Bhanjeli, Amreli, Pipartung, Dhatol localities in Churtungdhara and Ghorbanda villages have complained of illness.

Maniraj Adhikari, chief of the Health Division Office in Bagnaskali, said that the patients have complained of having multiple symptoms including fever, diarrhoea, headache, nausea and vomiting.

Adhikari said they have provided relevant medicines to the patients after administering them with intravenous fluids and oral rehydration solution. “However, since some of the patients are not responding to the medicines that we have provided,” Adhikari said, adding that those patients have been referred to Tansen-based private medicals, Mission Hospital and Lumbini Medical College for further treatment.

The rural municipality has deployed health officials including chiefs of various wards’ health divisions and health posts, staff nurses and lab technicians under the supervision of Mission Hospital doctor Sanjiv Rawal and Health Division Office Chief Adhikari.

The health officials including local representatives are taking stock of the situation and are facilitating the treatment of the sick.

A team of technicians from the District Health Office has also visited the area to collect water samples to determine the cause of the illness.

Around 400 people had attended the wedding and the majority of the attendees have been complaining of illness, said Pema Rana, a local.