Food poisoning: Biryani gone bad lands 49 in hospital

The condition of 12 of them is critical, doctors say

BAHAWALPUR:

As many as 49 people at a wedding, including the groom, fainted on Friday night after eating biryani served at the ceremony in a village near Zafarabad Town. They were diagnosed with food poisoning and doctors treating them said on Sunday that the condition of 12 patients was critical.

The relatives and friends of the groom Muhammad Aslam Baloch, son of Ramazan Khan Baloch, were served biryani when they returned home in Basti Balochan, Tibi Sayeedan village, near Khan Bela. Several people who ate the food fell sick. Aslam’s brothers-in-law Sajjad and Niaz fainted and were taken to Dr Ghulam Ahmad at the Khan Bela Rural Health Centre. Soon afterwards, 47 other guests, including Aslam, were brought to the RHC and some of them were taken directly to the Shaikh Zayed Medical College Hospital.

At the RHC, Dr Ahmad diagnosed them with food poisoning and referred them to Shaikh Zayed Medical College Hospital because of lack of medical facilities.  Doctors at the SZMCH said 11 children, 16 women and 15 men were brought to the SZMCH at 2:30am on Saturday

Doctors treating them said 37 victims had been administered drips and were later discharged. However, the condition of 12 of them is critical. The doctors said they had been admitted to the hospital and were being given intensive medical care.

Officials of the Health Department and policemen visited the house where the guests had eaten the biryani. They collected samples of leftovers and sent it to a laboratory for tests.

Shidani Police SHO Safdar Iqbal told journalists that they would take appropriate action after receiving the test results.

Meanwhile, the death toll from consumption of sweets mixed with an herbicide, banned for sale, also used a preservative in a Layyah village has increased to 33. The sweets had been distributed by Umar Hayat of Chak-105 TDA in Kahror Lal Eisen tehsil to celebrate the birth of a grandchild.

The father of the child, whose birth was being celebrated, had also died in the tragic incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2016.