An outreach program for orphaned and homeless boys went wrong on Sunday when the more than 70 beneficiaries ended up in the hospital due to food poisoning.
Dr. Ma. Cheantal Suñga, a senior pediatrics resident at Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, said that 79 boys from the Manila Boystown Complex in Parang, Marikina City, were admitted to the hospital around 8 p.m. Sunday, four hours after they ate the food prepared by a religious group which was not identified.
Suñga told the Inquirer in an interview Monday that the boys aged 7 to 17 were served hotdogs, hard boiled eggs and rice. Within an hour, they complained of abdominal pains, prompting the facility’s staff to take them to the hospital where they started vomiting and experienced diarrhea.
They were sent home Monday after their condition improved, Suñga said.—Jovic Yee with Kathrina Pineda, trainee