Ranchi: A three-member team, constituted by the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims), on Monday began probe into the last Saturday’s case in which 20 persons, including two admitted patients, reportedly suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea after consuming food served at the hospital, officials said.The patients at the medicine ward of the hospital were served rice, lentils, and egg curry for dinner. While some patients consumed the eggs, some gave the item to their attendants. Those who consumed the eggs reportedly complained of suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea. They were provided with immediate medical attention at the hospital, sources said.Rims public relations officer (PRO) Dr Shishir Kumar said, “The 20 people, including the two patients, are now stable. Hospital took care of them and administered them medicines and injections. It was not a case of food poisoning as all the patients, who took the food, would have been affected. There must be some issues with the particular batch of the eggs served to few of the patients.”“The committee, consisting of experts from medicine, microbiology and preventive and social medicine, has been formed to test the quality of food. If any negligence is found on anyone’s part, he/ she will be punished. A third-party agency supplies the food to the patients,” he added.The hospital authorities have also activated the kitchen monitoring committee of Rims to regularly monitor the quality, storage and distribution of food items at the hospital, the PRO stated.In August last year, a first-year post graduate student of obstetrics and gynaecology department had to put on ventilator after his condition detoriated post having tea at the canteen.“People from across Jharkhand and neighbouring states come to Rims for treatment. Falling ill after consuming food served in a hospital is a matter of grave concern. Fortunately, those affected this time suffered only minor health issues. However, if authorities continue to ignore hygiene standards, it could lead to a major disaster in the future,” Suraj Kumar, an attendant of a patient, said.Another attendant, Navin Kumar, said, “The hospital management must take responsibility of the incident. Forming a committee after the incident happened is of no use. There must be a permanent team to regularly monitor food quality.”