BACOLOD City – For eating linugaw with intoxicating yam or locally known as kayos, around 80 persons from three villages in Sagay City, Negros Occidental were rushed to two hospitals.
Wally Afuang, head of Sagay’s City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), said that their rescue team ferried 61 patients while the rest were assisted by village officials.
The CDRRMO brought the affected residents of barangays Lopez Jaena, Rizal and Poblacion 2, who complained of stomach pains, nausea and vomiting, to the Alfredo E. Marañon Sr. Memorial District Hospital (AEMSMDH) and the Lopez District Farmers Hospital, Inc. on April 10.
Afuang added yesterday that the patients were already discharged from the hospitals.
As a Good Friday tradition, Sagay City residents usually serve linugaw while observing fasting.
According to Afuang, a resident from one of the villages harvested intoxicating yam and shared it to his relatives to be used as an ingredient in making linugaw.
Dr. Cyrille Adraneda, attending physician at the AEMSMDH, said that intoxicating yamcontains cyanide, according to the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital National Poison Management and Control Center.
Cyanide 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.
Mayor Alfredo Marañon III, for his part, said that the hospitalization fees and medication needs of the patients have already been paid by the city government. Food packs will also be distributed to them. (With a report from PNA/PN)
