NYAMAGABE-Nearly all who were admitted at Kigeme Hospital after eating suspected poisoned food last week at a church ceremony, have been discharged.In a previous report, eyewitnesses had told this paper that about 300 people attended a reception hosted at Kirehe Adventist Church, Gasaka Sector, following ten days of prayer in preparation for Pentecostal festivities.In the following hours and days, 55 people were admitted at Kigeme Hospital and 17 at a nearby Health centre. Officials from the Health Centre told this paper on Monday that about 130 others were receiving treatment from their homes.“Everyone who ate the food fell sick. Even those who have not been admitted complained of a certain malaise,” Bonny Mbyayingabo, one of the victims, told this paper on Monday.By Friday afternoon, only three people remained hospitalised “with minor stomach pain”, according to Kigeme hospital management.Speaking to the New Times, Marie Solange Twahirwa, a statistician at Kigeme Hospital, said the patients returned home after doctors found them stable.“Many of them are still on treatment, but from their homes,” Twahirwa said.“We hope the trio [still admitted] will soon be discharged as their situation is improving”.Most of those affected complained of severe stomach pain, headache, fever, diarrhoea and vomiting.Twahirwa said tests carried out at Butare University Teaching Hospital (CHUB) came out negative. She, however, observed that blood tests are currently being conducted at the Reference Laboratory in Kigali.
