55 down in Iloilo town feeding program
Forty eight Fourth Grade pupils of a public school in Barangay Igtubli, Tubungan, Iloilo and seven others from a nearby barangay here were rushed to the hospital yesterday.
Believed to be victims of accidental food poisoning, the victims fell ill minutes after a feeding program in the Igtubli Elementary School here.
First set of student-victims arrived about 11 a.m. at the Guimbal District Hospital numbering to 44. Hospital staff immediately set up added emergency response medical teams following the call of Tubungan Mayor Vic Tabaquirao to Guimbal Mayor Christine Garin.
By 5 p.m. yesterday, The News Today (TNT) confirmed that four were advised to be confined due to continued vomiting and onset of fever. Guimbal Rural Health Officer Dr. Jay Dorin in a report to First District Board Member Richard Garin identified those confined as 2 year-old Carlo Tacaisan, 11 year-old Richard Pamunan, 9 year-old Mark Kevin Tajuman and 10 year-old Brian Cardugo. The two-year old boy is the grandson of one of the identified cooks, Marcelina Tacaisan.
The two others who helped out in the food preparation were Rosalina Tacaisan and Urneta Raymundo.
Investigation conducted by health and town officials point to two big Asahi sardines bought and used by the parents for the feeding program. The subject cans were recovered and brought to the regional Health office for examination.
The student-victims when rushed to the hospital had to be transferred to a waiting vehicle in Barangay Lanag Norte after a portion of the road here was damaged by the Typhoon Frank. It was a 6 kilometer-travel from the school to a waiting vehicle, then another 21 kilometers to Guimbal District Hospital.
DepEd District Supervisor Rolinda Gotera accompanied the children to and from the hospital and was met by Guimbal health and town officials who responded to the call for help.
Confined student-victims were given Intravenous bottles for hydration with the supplies provided by the Guimbal Health Office.
Tubungan Mayor Vic Tabaquirao in a report clarified that the two cans of Asahi sardines were bought in the town and not part of relief goods as earlier reported in the radio.
Dionita Echalar, the teacher of the student-victims told Bombo Radyo that it took about 5 minutes for the group to feel the immediate effect of the contaminated food. One by one, she recalled, she saw her students in a sudden dizzy spell while others immediately complained of stomach pains.