Amid Calls for Punishment, New Poisonings in the Eastern Ghouta - It's Over 9000!

Amid Calls for Punishment, New Poisonings in the Eastern Ghouta

Baladi News – Damascus Countryside (Tarek Khawwam)

Hundreds of poisoning cases were reported in Hosh Nasri area in the besieged Eastern Ghouta in Damascus countryside on Thursday evening. The cases were the result of consuming rotten food meals that had been distributed by a relief agency, which led to a huge anger among civilians.

Eight hundred poisonings were documented and dozens of civilians rushed to medical points after eating the relief meals. Anas, a doctor at the medical committee of al-Marj area in Shaifoniyya town, said that “In the beginning, more than 500 poisoned people came to the medical point of the area. Shortly after that, the number increased and 300 of the cases were taken to Duma city because of the lack of beds in Shaifoniyya hospital.”

The doctor added that “the symptoms of infection include nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Unlike poisonings that took place days earlier, some of the cases are critical, which were transferred to intensive care units.”

Earlier on Tuesday evening, 262 poisoning cases arrived at medical points and makeshift hospitals in Shaifonyya town after eating pre-cooked iftar (breaking of fast) meals. At that time, activists said that spoiled food meals were distributed to civilians on regular basis. However, these meals were improperly packaged and stored, which damages and spoils them in such a hot weather. It seems that the same thing happened on Thursday, but on a larger scale.

A medical source in the Eastern Ghouta mentioned that the emergency section at al-Marj hospital received 724 poisoning cases, including 337 children, 248 women, and 139 men, suffering from blood vomiting or double vision with symptoms of dehydration and xerostomia.

To treat the cases, Mahmoud, a member of the local council of the Eastern Ghouta, suggests that the meals should be distributed uncooked, or rather, sums of money should be given to the families to buy food, medicines, or fuel as needed

Activists called upon the prosecutor of the Unified Judicial Council to commission a criminal task force to investigate the reasons behind such a huge number of poisoning cases and issue immediate arrest warrants against those responsible for this humanitarian crisis in the Eastern Ghouta. They also demanded that the punishment should be executed in public and under media coverage.

related articles