School vice-principal suspended over food poisoning incident in north-central Vietnam

At least 40 students from the elementary school were rushed to hospital on Friday last week after showing signs of food poisoning following their breakfast at school, a local official confirmed the same day.

The incident began at around 8:00 am when students of the school developed severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and nausea after eating ‘banh tay,' a sticky rice cake wrapped in banana leaves.

Some students reported the cakes had an unusual odor.

The 15-day suspension, effective from Thursday, was issued after a meeting between local authorities and parents.

During the meeting, numerous concerns were raised regarding Hue’s management of the school’s boarding kitchen, which she directly oversaw.

The school’s principal Do Van My will continue running day-to-day operations, while temporary responsibility for the kitchen has been assigned to another staff member.

Most of the affected students returned to school after a two-day absence protesting Hue’s handling of the incident.

However, some students are still recovering at home due to more severe symptoms.

Teachers have been visiting those students to offer support.

Local officials and school administrators met with parents of the school’s 75 boarding students on Wednesday.

More than 20 parents voiced dissatisfaction with the vice-principal’s management of the school kitchen, citing food safety concerns.

Beyond food quality issues, parents also questioned Hue’s professional ethics.

Records revealed that in October 2023, she was formally reprimanded by authorities in the former Le Thuy District under the former Quang Binh Province, now part of the new Quang Tri Province, for appropriating another person’s property.

The incident involved Hue taking a phone left behind at a restaurant in Kien Giang Town under the former district.

After the phone’s owner reported it missing, police tracked the device to Hue’s home, where she eventually admitted to taking it and returned the phone.

Refusal to send affected students to hospital sparks outrage

The controversy intensified when a 44-second audio clip and accompanying video surfaced, allegedly capturing Hue refusing to allow students showing signs of food poisoning to be taken to the hospital.

Ngo Duc Van, director of Le Thuy General Hospital, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that 40 students from the school were treated for food poisoning.

While symptoms were not life-threatening, Dr. Van emphasized that prompt medical intervention was critical to avoid escalation.

Hue told Tuoi Tre that she was the person in the video but claimed she was not refusing medical care – only waiting for transportation to be arranged.

However, the school’s health officer Truong Thi Quynh disputed this, stating that over an hour passed between her request to send the students to hospital and their eventual transport.

Quynh said Hue was heard in the clip asserting that “100 percent of the children would be fine” and insisting that they not be taken to the hospital.

Pressure from concerned parents reportedly forced a last-minute decision to transport the children using a private vehicle.