Student loses sight after drinking ethanol meant for lab practicals

Dennis Tarus

November 29, 2016 1:47 PM

A Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations student (KCSE) is recuperating at a Narok County hospital after drinking a lethal chemical meant for a Chemistry practical at the school.

Laboratory chemicals. A Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations student (KCSE) is recuperating at a Narok County hospital after drinking a lethal chemical meant for a Chemistry practical at the school.

A Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations student (KCSE) is recuperating at a Narok County hospital after drinking a lethal chemical meant for a Chemistry practical at the school.

The student can no longer continue with his KCSE examinations since he lost his sight after drinking the ethanol laced lab chemical.

The student was supposed to sit for Biology paper on Monday but was unable since apart from blindness, he could also neither eat nor speak.

Speaking from his hospital bed, the 18-year-old student confessed that he along with several of his friends consumed the ethanol last Friday after sitting for their Chemistry paper.

According to the Nation, the student was taken to the Narok Cottage Hospital before being referred to the Nakuru Level Five Hospital.

Responding well to treatment

The health officials however said the student was responding well to treatment and was given beer as an antidote to neutralise the ethanol he had taken.

They said the student was in stable condition and there was a high chance of him regaining his sight since he was already attended to by an eye specialist.

In October, a 17-year-old student from Nyeri who had lost his sight after consuming ethanol from his school’s laboratory regained his sight after being treated at an Othaya hospital.

The student from Kenyatta Mahiga High School is said to have taken the chemical after a chemistry session.

Following an initial diagnosis, it was initially feared he would be permanently blind but he later regained his sight.

Dennis Tarus