After eating amala and vegetable soup, 10 members of the same family have been hospitalised at the General Hospital, Gbadaga, Lagos.
PUNCH METRO gathered that the incident, which occurred at Community Avenue, Magboro, Ogun State, on Sunday evening involved a man identified simply as Moses, his wife, Labake, their two sons, two daughters-in-law and four grandchildren.
The food was said to have been prepared by one of Moses‘ daughters-in-law.
However, a family source (name withheld), who was not at home when the incident occurred, said from what he gathered there was nothing to suggest foul play.
When our correspondent visited the hospital on Monday, Moses, his wife and the grandchildren were still on their hospital beds, while four of the victims had been discharged.
The source said, ”On Sunday evening, all the family gathered together, the daughters-in-law, my brothers and the grandchildren. Before that evening, they prepared a vegetable soup, which was planted in a garden within the compound where the family resides. They also prepared amala. Some of them ate the food. Of all those who were in the house, only one person did not eat the food and that person is the wife of my younger brother. It was not that she did not want to eat, but when they finished cooking, they had a night prayer, she went to watch movie first and later planned to take her own meal.
”It was during that time that this incident happened. Ten members of our family: four adults including my father, mother, my two younger brothers, my wife who just gave birth to a baby, my younger brother‘s wife, who was pregnant, and four grandchildren were affected
”My younger brother‘s wife prepared the meal. But she did not have the intention of harming anybody. People have been asking her why she did not eat the food. She is not the type that eats very early as such. She just wanted to watch a movie and later come to eat her own meal.”
According to the source, the first person, who showed sign of discomfort, was one of the grandchildren, who was immediate rushed to a nearby clinic before other grandchildren had a similar problem.
He said that health professionals in the clinic did their best, but on discovering the magnitude of the complications, they referred the patients to Gbagada General Hospital.
He said, ”One of the grandchildren complained of stomach ache. They rushed him to a nearby clinic, before coming back; the other grandchildren had suffered the same fate. My own mother who was trying to help them also complained of the same problem. The hospital said it was too much for them to handle. They had to be rushed to the General Hospital.
”On their way to the hospital, each of the remaining six had started having a feeling of food poisoning. It started from my wife, later, one of the grandchildren, after that, my youngest brother, Matthew, was also affected when we got to the expressway on our way to the hospital.
”They were admitted in the casual ward. It was while in the ward that my immediate younger brother had a similar experience. As my father was trying to help out, he, too, started complaining. That is how 10 people were hospitalised.”
He said although his mother was still on admission, the family was still worried about his father‘s health.
He said the family members as well as the medical team at the general hospital were doing their best to ensure that he recovered in time. He advised people to be more careful with what they eat.
Efforts to speak with the Medical Director were unsuccessful as he was said to be attending a meeting and other officials were not willing to speak on the incident.
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