162 students and teachers in Ketapang get sick after eating MBG

Ketapang, Thekabarnews.com—Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, has reported another case of suspected food poisoning associated with Indonesia’s free meals program (MBG). This case affected hundreds of students and teachers in Marau District, Thursday morning, February 5.

Students from SMP Negeri 1 Marau, SMA Negeri 1 Marau, and SMK Negeri 1 Marau suffered injuries. Shortly after consuming the MBG meals, students and teachers at the designated schools began to fall ill. Medical teams took several victims to nearby community health centers for care. As of Thursday afternoon, doctors continued to monitor some patients.

The head of Ketapang’s Local Health Office (Dinkes), Feria Kowira, said that early reports said there were 162 victims.

“We have counted 162 victims, including students and teachers in Marau District, as of 5:00 PM local time,” Feria said on Thursday.

She said that Dinkes got the first reports around 10:00 AM. Victims said they were sick, vomited, felt dizzy, had stomach pain, and had diarrhea. 

“Most of them were throwing up and feeling dizzy when they got to the health centers around 10:00 AM. A few of them also had diarrhea. “Most of them looked like they were dehydrated,” she said.

The Ketapang’s Dinkes quickly sent five medical teams to help. The teams were made up of people from Dinkes, the Marau Health Center (Puskesmas), the Jelai Hulu Health Center (Puskesmas), and the Suka Mulia Health Center (Puskesmas).

Dinkes are also looking into what might have caused the suspected mass food poisoning. As part of the investigation, officials took samples of food from the MBG menu and vomit from victims. They sent them to a lab for testing.

The West Kalimantan Provincial Health Laboratory is looking at the biological samples, and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) West Kalimantan Regional Office is looking at the food samples in Pontianak. 

The incident raises new concerns about the food safety standards of the free meals program (MBG), which aims to improve the nutrition of students across the country. Therefore, officials said they will investigate and act if they find negligence.