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)