Free meal proves costly

KARACHI: A case of mass food poisoning took place at a camp for flood survivors in Ibrahim Hyderi on Monday when 59 people, five children among them, fell ill after eating a meal provided at their camp.

Nobody knew that at 10.30 am, everyone who ate a meal provided at the Sindh Government School relief camp would be taken to hospital. “The daal was frothy and smelled bad. After we ate the food, we got stomach aches and started throwing up. My children and I all ate,” said Shahida, a flood survivor.

As soon as the gravity of the situation became apparent, an emergency was declared at the Sindh Government Hospital in Ibrahim Hyderi and patients were immediately provided medical attention. EDO Revenue Roshan Ali Sheikh and EDO Revenue Nasir Javed reached the spot.

Four people who fell seriously ill were moved to Jinnah hospital.

Doctors said that the food contained some toxic substance. “The government is providing food to the survivors, but carelessness in the preparation of meals can take people’s lives,” said Dr Amina.

When the news of food poisoning reached the camp, the mukhtiarkar of the area, Asad Abbasi, returned the rest of the food. Flood survivors said that eating unhygienic food could have caused deaths in their camp and they urged the government to take the incident seriously to prevent something like this from happening again.

EDO Health Dr Nasir Javed said an investigation was underway to find out who had supplied the meal at the camp. “Samples of the food have been sent to Services hospital’s chemical department for testing, he said, adding, “Action will be taken against those responsible after the results come in.”

The Sindh home minister ordered an inquiry and promised that strict action would be taken.

Additional reporting by Tufail Ahmed and PPI

Published in The Express Tribune, September  7^th, 2010.