Employees in Sunter rushed to hospital with food poisoning
Employees in Sunter rushed to hospital with food poisoning
JAKARTA (JP): Some 186 employees of PT Pulogadung Pawitra
Laksana, an assembler of Isuzu Panther minivans located on Jl.
Gaya Motor in Sunter district, North Jakarta, were rushed to
three separate hospitals on Friday after complaining of nausea
and giddiness.
Both the victims and medical practitioners said food poisoning
was the most probable cause of the incident.
"The menu for Thursday's lunch were meat, soup and butter-
fried shrimp. But, the food tasted rather strange," Chandra, an
employee at the plant, said at the Pertamina Hospital in South
Jakarta.
He, however, declined to disclose the caterer that provided
the meal in the company's canteen.
Another employee, however, said that the caterer was Cita Rasa
Catering.
Dede, a staffer at the company, hinted that the management had
hired a number of catering companies to provide daily meals for
the employees, not only one.
Haryadi, a doctor at the Pertamina Hospital indicated that the
employees had suffered food poisoning.
"Our diagnosis revealed that it was a case of mild poisoning.
We're still investigating what caused it," he said, adding that
the doctors were examining samples of the employees' feces.
The factory employees said that they started feeling giddy and
nauseous hours after they finished Thursday's lunch.
Another employee, Yusuf, said he started to feel the symptoms
early Friday morning, some 18 hours after he had lunch.
"I felt dizzy and nauseous in the morning. But I forced myself
to go to work as it seemed to be only a minor ailment," the 23-
year-old employee in the company's painting unit said at the
Pertamina Hospital.
After numerous employees complained of suffering from the same
symptoms, the management then decided to send them all Friday
midday to three separate hospitals.
Some 62 employees were admitted to the Pertamina Hospital and
45 others to the UKI hospital in Cawang, East Jakarta
The remaining 84 employees were brought to Sukamulya Hospital
on Jl. Tawes in North Jakarta on Friday.
Most of the employees were allowed to leave hospital on the
same day. At the Pertamina Hospital, however, some 12 employees
were still being treated on Friday afternoon.
The employees were seen enjoying their lunch at a Big Bird bus
parked in front of the hospital at 1 p.m. A plaster on the back
of each of their hands indicated that they had all been earlier
fed intravenously in the hospital.
Mudjono, a staffer at the UKI Hospital, said seven employees
were still being treated at the hospital on Friday afternoon.
"The employees were brought to the hospital at 8 a.m. in the
morning, but most of them were allowed to go home after receiving
first aid," he said.
Meanwhile, Adji, a staffer at Sukamulya Hospital said nine out
of the 84 employees were still receiving medical treatment at the
hospital on Friday afternoon. (asa)