By MAYA NTANDA-
NINETY-EIGHT people, among them 46 children, have been admitted to Kitwe Central Hospital (KCH) for suspected poisoning after drinking a traditional brew commonly known as ‘munkoyo’ at a funeral house.
The traditional sweet drink was consumed by mourners at house number 13, Mpumba Street in Chachacha Township, at Mr Martin Kanyanta’s residence after a burial programme on Saturday afternoon.
Mr Kanyanta and KCH public relations officer Gray Chishimba confirmed the incident in separate interviews.
Mr Chishimba said the victims included 52 adults and 46 children who were admitted at separate intervals after complaining of diarrhoea, vomiting and high temperature.
“As at 07:00 hours today (yesterday) we had 98 people admitted to the hospital after drinking munkoyo at a funeral house,” Mr Chishimba said.
“They were coming in intervals around 06:00 hours on Sunday morning while a larger group came between 10:00 and 12:00 hours the same day.”
Mr Chishimba described the condition of those admitted as stable as most of them were responding well to treatment.
He said some victims were expected to be discharged.
A victim, Agness Bwalya said the munkoyo drink was prepared by church members from the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) on Friday and was scheduled to be taken after the burial programme.
Ms Bwalya said the drink was made out of millet meal and containers containing the drink were left outside overnight.
Ms Bwalya said that after drinking the traditional brew on Saturday afternoon, most of the victims reacted around 01:00 hours on Sunday morning when they started vomiting black substances while others experienced loss of memory and pain in the spinal cord.
She said that around 02:00 hours, the victims were taken to Buchi Clinic where those who were least-affected were treated and discharged and others were transferred to KCH.
Ms Bwalya said the severity of the ailment depended on the quantity one had consumed.
Another victim, Chanda Lupita said she experienced high temperature after consuming the drink.
Medical personnel visited the funeral house where they gave the mourners medicines, disinfected the area and took specimens of the drink for further tests in Lusaka.