Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: At least 10 students of a government school in Balangir were today taken ill after consuming the supplementary iron tablets prior to their midday meal.

Six girls and four boys of Jenapali Upper Primary School were admitted to district headquarters hospital as they complained of stomach-ache, vomiting and dizziness. They were discharged this evening. The students’ condition is stated to be stable.

Today’s incident in the Balangir school happened close on the heels of 115 students of a Puri school being hospitalised after being administered the tablets.

The Puri district administration has directed headmasters of all schools to stop supply of the pills to the students till further orders.

Health minister Damodar Rout has asked the director of health services and drugs controller to test the quality and composition of the iron tablets supplied to the Gopinathpur Upgraded Middle English School in Brahmagiri, Puri. “The students fell sick because they had the tablet on empty stomach,” said the health minister.

At present, 10 students are undergoing treatment at Puri Sadar hospital.

Out of the other 100-odd students, who had been discharged from hospital yesterday after preliminary treatment, two were re-admitted following persisting dizziness.

“Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has already ordered an inquiry into the incident and we are waiting for the district collector’s report. We will go to the bottom of the matter and the guilty will be taken to task,” said schools and mass education minister Rabi Narayan Nanda.

Puri district collector Nabakumar Nayak said samples of the iron tablets provided to the students had been seized for laboratory testing.

However, paediatrician Arabinda Mohanty is of the view that overdose could have led to toxicity, but having the tablets on empty stomach would not require hospitalisation.