IMPHAL, NOVEMBER 3: Around 200 people have reportedly fallen ill after consuming food during a traditional feast at Thanga, a village surrounded by Loktak Lake in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Monday, reports reaching here have said.
Convenor Heisnam Kulachandra of Thanga Kendra Development Committee told the media here that the victims had common complaints such as acute stomach ache, fever, and loose motion.
They fell sick after attending a traditional feast that was organised in connection with the death anniversary of one Oinam Mangi’s late father at Thanga Khunjem Leikai under Moirang police station, on October 31, Kulachandra said.
Expert from the state’s food safety establishment collected samples of the food and ingredients that were understood to have been used in making the dishes for the feast, to ascertain the cause of the illness. The chief medical officer of Bishnupur district also visited the Primary Health Centre at Thanga with emergency drugs and kits, he added.
The situation is still alarming as around 100 patients, mostly women and children, were first admitted to a 10-bed Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Thanga, he said. The critical cases were referred to bigger hospitals in Imphal due to the lack of experts and medicines in the Thanga locality.
“We’ve also submitted a memorandum to the state Chief Minister in this regard as we’re demanding adequate compensation/relief for the affected victims,” Kulachandra added.
The chairman of the Planning and Development Authority T Mangibabu, who is the local MLA of Thanga constituency, visited the PHC at Thanga on November 2. He informed the media that necessary steps have been taken to ‘control the situation.’
There is no need to worry, he said. A doctor posted at the PHC also shared a similar sentiment.
