Over 80 hospitalised after birthday party meal
Source: Chronicle News Service

Senapati, September 14 2022: More than 80 villagers, including children, are undergoing treatment at Primary Health Centre (PHC), Paomata and PHSC, Tungjoy in Senapati district on Tuesday evening following a suspected food poisoning post a birthday party.

According to sources, all the villagers admitted to health centres had attended a birthday party held at Tungjoy village under Paomata sub-division.

Doctors and nurses acted swiftly to control the situation while volunteers of Poumai Naga Tsiidoumai Me (PNTM), the apex students' organisation of Poumai Naga tribe, also assisted with additional supply of medicines as the stock at the PHC ran out due to excess number of affected patients.

Meanwhile, PNTM has expressed gratitude to the dedicated medical teams posted at Paomata PHC and nearby PHSCs for quick response in taking care of the patients.

PNTM also appreciated the team from its Paomata unit and teams from federating units like Khumai Youth and Students' Organisation (KYSO), Tungjoy Youth and Students' Organisation (TYSO) and other villagers for helping and assisting the patients throughout the night.

According to local sources, most of the patients have complaints of vomiting, loose motion, fever and body ache but some patients have been discharged after medication as per doctor's advice.

It is suspected that food poisoning could be from the chutney (spicy condiment) made with fermented fish as other people who did not consume the chutney did not fall ill.

A food safety team from Senapati has reached the village and started investigation to find out the cause of the incident.

The team collected food samples and conducted inspection at both the health centres for further investigation.

According to PHC Paomata medical officer Dr Th Pouziivei, most of the patients are from Tungjoy and Tunggam villages.

He recounted that around 2 pm Tuesday, people started coming in with complaints of vomiting, diarrhoea, high fever and body ache after attending the birthday celebration of a boy in Tungjoy village.

Dr Pouziivei said the number of affected people could be more because those with non-serious symptoms likely decided to stay back at home after self-medication.

Since there are only three doctors and little staff at the health centre, they are now taking help from nearby health centres, including manpower, to oversee the situation, Dr Pouziivei said.

On Wednesday, around 15 patients who had shown improvement were discharged.

However, more patients continue to be admitted even on the second day of the incident, Dr Pouziivei informed.

Not ruling out possibility of the fermented fish used in the chutney as the cause for food poisoning, the MO said: "Those who do not consumed meat, however, were also admitted with same symptoms.

So we are suspecting it was caused from the ingredient used in the chutney.

However, nothing can be ascertained as of now" .

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