Health ministry probes two deadly food poisoning cases in Gombak

PEKAN, June 11: The deaths of a Form Five student and a two-year-old girl who died due to food poisoning on Monday is still being investigated by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni said the matter is still being probed by MOH and its headquarters will issue a statement on the matter later.

“The case will be answered by the (Division of) Public Health (and) the headquarters will issue the statement. For now, it is still under investigation,” he told a press conference after a working visit to the district health office (PKD) in Pekan, Pahang here today. Also present was Pahang Health director Datuk Dr Rusdi Abd Rahman.

On Tuesday, the media reported that the police confirmed receiving two reports of death involving a 17-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl who died of suspected food poisoning from a religious school in Gombak.

Gombak district police chief ACP Noor Ariffin Mohamad Nasir was quoted as saying the teenager had eaten food brought back by his mother after attending a religious programme at the school last Saturday.

He said that after eating the food, the victim and his parents had diarrhoea and at 1.30pm yesterday the victim lost consciousness while the second victim ate the food brought by his father, who was on duty as a security guard at the school on Saturday, and was found to have a fever, vomiting and diarrhoea around 10.45 am yesterday.

He said the bodies of the two victims were sent to the Selayang Hospital Forensic Unit for further action and the case was classified as sudden death.

According to Noor Ariffin, the food in both cases was identified as fried been hoon and eggs.

         — BERNAMA