Over 40 UPND cadres food -poisoned and hospitalised

OVER 40 UPND supporters in Chongwe have been hospitalised after suspected food
poisoning during a meeting on Thursday.

And a health personnel has confirmed that the 44 who are admitted at the hospital
came in a critical condition but were now stable as they were still under observation.

One of the UPND supporters, Milton Sichalwe, 32, who was present at the campaign meeting said he did not believe that the traditional drink (Munkoyo) could do such harm to them.

“I still can’t understand that the Munkoyo we drunk was going to lead us into this big problem. We drunk it when we were carrying out some ward campaigns in Chongwe and it was in the evening but it was only at night that people started vomiting and complaining of headache and diarrhea but we suspect it was poison because over 50 people got sick at the same time,” Sichalwe said.

“We were about 50 of us and some of us had remained at the clinic while others who were more serious were taken to Chongwe hospital but we are yet to get an official report from
the hospital when tests are done.”

And some sources at Chongwe hospital confirmed that the UPND supporters suffered severe vomiting, diarrhoea and fever which was a sign of food poisoning.

“We received a total number of 44 UPND members who were brought in a critical condition following food poisoning but after receiving some treatment, they have improved and they are a bit stable now. In medical terms, we call it food poisoning regardless of  whether it’s someone who put poison in something or its bacterial. So right now, we are treating it as bacterial food poisoning until confirmed otherwise and samples have been taken to UTH for tests,” said the medical source who sought anonymity.

“Here we received 44 but others had remained at Chongwe clinic and those who were brought here experienced some vomiting, diarrhoea and fever.”

Source: Post Newspaper