Food poisoning: Couple, 60 guests fall ill at wedding feast

Patients were in a stable condition after given treatment at Poly Clinic Hospital.

ISLAMABAD:

In what could have proven to be a deadly feast, a newly-wed couple and 60 of their guests landed in a hospital hours after attending their valima on Sunday, complaining of food poisoning.

Doctors from the Poly Clinic Hospital said that patients, including women and children, were in a stable condition after they were given antibiotics and electrolytic treatment.

Secretariat police took samples of the food which was prepared for Raja Zubair’s valima reception. Zubair is a resident of Dhok Beer Kund village near Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU).

“Samples were sent to a laboratory to determine the cause of food poisoning,” a police official said.

“The food was cooked by local village chefs at the bridegroom’s house,” he continued, adding that it seemed like a prank and some friend of the groom’s, might have mixed a chemical in the food.

A senior doctor said that all patients showed diarrhea-like symptoms.

“Some of them were vomiting heavily but they were given timely treatment,” said Dr Iftikhar Naru, the Deputy Medical Superintendent at Poly Clinic Hospital.



Another official from the hospital said that at least three of the patients suffered acute dehydration and were in a relatively serious condition, but were now out of danger.

The couple and the guests staying at their house were shifted to the hospital in ambulances.

“They (guests) called each other and shared their condition, figuring it was food poisoning and decided to report to the hospital,” said a police official.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2012.