SAGAY City Mayor Alfredo Marañon III reminds his constituents to be careful of what they eat after about 80 of his constituents fell ill for food poisoning during Good Friday.
Maranon said the hospitalization and medical needs of patients admitted to the district hospital were free and would be given food packs after their discharge.
He said the City Government also paid the bills of patients brought to the LODIFHI emergency room.
The 80 residents of three barangays in Sagay City were rushed to two hospitals when they fell ill after eating soup with "intoxicating yam".
Wally Afuang, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), said that the affected residents were from Barangay Lopez Jaena, Rizal, and Poblacion 2.
They were rushed to the Alfredo E. Marañon Sr. Memorial District Hospital (AEMSMDH) and the Lopez District Farmers Hospital, Inc. (LODIFHI) by the CDRMMO and barangay rescue units, Afuang said.
The patients complained of stomach pain, nausea and vomiting after they ate a rootcrop called “kayos” or intoxicating yam which the residents harvested on Thursday and shared it with their relatives.
Dr. Cyrille Adraneda, the attending physician at the Alfredo Maranon District Hospital said they treated 52 admitted patients, 22 of them were adults and 30 were children.
Most were already discharged.
According to the University of the Philippines -Philippine General Hospital National Poison Management and Control Center, “kayos” contains cyanide which is a natural toxin found in some food plants. Toxic substances, when not processed properly, can bring harm to human health and cause food poisoning.