2 Die after puffer fish meal, others hospitalised

The Kwahu Afram Plains North District Health Directorate is proposing a ban on the sale and consumption of puffer fish, following the death of two members of a family and the hospitalisation of other members after they had allegedly consumed an evening meal prepared with the fish.

Shortly after eating, they all complained of abdominal pains.

The deceased have been identified as Madam Veronica Agbobli, 85, and Mr Forgive Tagbolu, 50, while 100-year-old Kofi Agbobli, 43-year-old Peace Agbobli, Gracious Tagbolu and Opare Kofi, 10, are still on admission.

Action taken

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Kwahu Afram Plains North District Health Director of the Ghana Health Service, Mr Robert Kwaku Bio, said the district health directorate was collaborating with the public health unit and the management of the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Hospital to get to the bottom of the situation.

He said the action taken immediately by the directorate was to notify the District Chief Executive, the Regional Health Directorate and the Regional Disease Control Officer. The sensitisation of stakeholders has also started.

The directorate, he added, had also intensified health education at all levels, as well as stepped up surveillance activities to ascertain the situation in other communities.

One of the family members, Ms Peace Agbobli, who spoke to the team on her sick bed, narrated that after they had finished taking their evening meal, they went to sleep. Around 11:30 p.m., all those who ate the meal started vomiting, along  with complaints of abdominal pain.

Mr Bio explained that the District Health Directorate was “notified on suspected food poisoning cases reported at the Donkorkrom Presby Hospital from a community called Abotanso No. Three.”

“A team from the District Health Directorate quickly moved to the hospital in collaboration with the Public Health Unit team and the management at the hospital to assess the situation,” he said.