Hundreds of shoe factory workers poisoned

Hundreds of shoe factory workers poisoned

BEKASI (JP): Hundreds of workers of shoe-manufacturing company
PT Tong Yang Indonesia were admitted to at least five hospitals
here for medical treatment on Thursday and Friday allegedly due
to food poisoning at the factory's canteen.

Some were still being treated at the five hospitals -- state-
owned Bekasi hospital and privately run Cempaka, Seto, Sentosa
and Mekarsari hospitals -- on Saturday because of constant
vomiting.

A nurse at the Mekarsari hospital, Jenny Valentina, told The
Jakarta Post on Saturday that over 100 workers were admitted
there and most of them were discharged after being treated for
one day.

"Some of them were even admitted at the hospital's emergency
unit because of continuously vomiting," she said, adding that
those admitted to Mekarsari hospital had mostly gotten help first
from the Graha Juanda and Tambun clinics.

"My colleagues from the other four hospitals told me that each
of them received an average of 100 workers complaining of
stomachache and severe headache due to food poisoning," Jenny
said.

"They were admitted to the hospitals in groups, with some
vomiting and several others fainting," Jenny said, adding that
there were no deaths so far.

Hariati, 19, one of seven workers seeking medical treatment at
the Mekarsari hospital on Saturday, said that she just started
feeling the effect of the food poisoning on that day.

"I got up this morning with a horrible stomachache. Before I
knew it, I ended up here," she said.

Hariati's mother, who was at her daughter's hospital bedside,
said that Hariati fainted twice on the way to the hospital.

"As soon as she started fainting, I rushed her here. I know
the company will pick up the bill, but I just hope that she be
allowed to take a few days rest," Hariati's mother said.

Hariati said that many of the company's workers were rushed to
the hospitals a few hours after consuming a meal of fish and rice
on Thursday at the factory canteen. "The fish did not taste
stale. I don't know what went wrong," she said.

Roiyah, another worker treated at the Mekarsari hospital, said
that most of her friends went straight back to work after being
discharged from the hospitals.

"I guess they can't afford the pay cuts. We are only
elementary-school graduates. We don't get more than Rp 200,000
(US$22.22) a month," Roiyah said, adding that she, too, would go
back to work the day after being discharged.

Nurse Susana, at the Bekasi hospital, said that all 60 workers
treated at the hospital since Thursday had been discharged as of
Saturday.

Workers Kustiani and Haniah were the last to be discharged
from the hospital on Saturday. "They suffered internal problems
due to the food poisoning. Neither I, nor the doctors, can
understand what was wrong with the food they ate," Susana said.

Nurse Irma of the Mekarsari hospital added that doctors who
examined the patients believed that the poisoning was caused by
the fish they consumed.

The workers were served two dishes for their lunch: fish and
rice, and sayur asem (sour vegetable soup) and rice. "No workers
came here saying that they ate the sayur asem and rice," Irma
said.

When the Post visited the shoe factory, which employs 6,000
laborers, on Jl. Cempaka KM 37, Jatimulya, Tambun, a security
guard said that the factory was closed on weekends.

"Aris, the head cook of the canteen, has been taken into
police custody for questioning," said the guard, who refused to
give his identity. (ylt)