Chibombo family in clinic after drinking poisonous Umunkoyo

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Chibombo family in clinic after drinking poisonous Umunkoyo

Chibombo, Jun 13/14, ZANIS – Seven people from the same family in Chibombo district have been admitted to Chibombo Rural Health Centre after they consumed traditional sweet beer locally known as Umunkoyo suspected to have contained poison.

 

Among the victims are five children aged between four and eleven years.

 

Both Chibombo Rural Health Centre Officer in charge, Donavan Kambela and Chibombo Central Ward Councillor Robby Malindima confirmed the incident to ZANIS.

 

And a check by ZANIS at the Rural Health Centre yesterday found health personnel attending to the seven victims.

 

Mr Kambela said the victims were responding positively to treatment, adding that they would be discharged once they fully recover.

 

He further confirmed that three other people from another family were on Wednesday treated and discharged at the health centre after they also consumed the same drink.

 

Mr Kambela, however, said the kind of suspected consumed poison is not known as there is no sample to be tested because the drink had been discarded by one of the family members after he realized that it was harmful.

 

And Chibombo District Commissioner, Felix Mang’wato, who also visited the victims at the Rural Health Centre, described the incident as sad.

 

Mr Mang’wato has since appealed to the people to be conscious with the type of Umunkoyo trees which they use whenever brewing the drink.

 

He wondered what could have happened if many other people had taken in excess the alleged poisoned drink.

 

And one of the victims, Fatness Mulale, the mother of the five children who also brewed the drink, told ZANIS that she made the drink using Umunkoyo tree which she got from one of her relatives.

 

Mrs Mulale said the drink was meant to be served at a party locally known as Chiisi in the local language.

 

She said the party could have been attended by over twenty women.

 

Chiisi, which is also known as Secret Friend party, is a popular event in the area which brings together scores of women to celebrate their friendship and to exchange gifts.

 

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