A 36-year-old man has been admitted to the Thimphu National Referral hospital for mushroom poisoning. The man is reported to be in a stable condition now.
He is the lone survivor amongst the five who consumed poisonous mushroom in Samtse, last week. Four others succumbed to the poisoning.
The man said he started feeling nauseous after about 12 hours of consuming mushroom. “I hadn’t consumed as much as others who died.”
After the symptoms started showing he went to Samtse hospital and was admitted but was discharged two days later. But his health started deteriorating and he had to be admitted again.
His neighbour who was attending him asked the health staff if he could be transferred to the Thimphu hospital but was apparently told the treatment in both the hospitals is the same. He was transferred to Thimphu only after the four others died.
The family members of the deceased had earlier told BBS that the victims could have survived if the hospital had referred them to Thimphu on time.
BBS got in touch with the Doctors in Samtse but refused to comment saying they were not allowed to talk to media unless the Dzongkhag administration permits.
Meanwhile, the Senior Mushroom Supervisor of the Mushroom Centre, L.B Tamang, said they still haven’t been able to confirm the kind of mushroom the deceased consumed. They had spent three hours looking for mushroom the victims in the area had picked up the fatal mushrooms from. L.B Tamang said the victims’ description of the mushroom they consumed fitted that of Albertalous locally known as Balu Chaw. “They said the cap of the mushroom was black and the gills and stem white.”
After three hours of searching, the team found poisonous mushroom belonging to amanita family. L.B Tamang suspects it is this mushroom that killed the four. He said the symptoms of those poisoned matched that of people suffering from amanita mushroom poisoning.
L.B Tamang said if immediate health assistance, in case of mushroom poisoning, is not available, his advice is to pound charcoal and mix the powder with water. “Keep the mixture aside for about four to five minutes for the powder to settle at the bottom of the container. Then drink at least one to two glasses of the potion.” He said the concoction will induce vomiting which will not allow the toxin to get into the system. But then, he warns, there are different toxins – some causing stomach poisoning, and some that directly affects the brain.
The mushroom centre has distributed charts and pamphlets in all gewog centres, BHUs, and schools as an awareness measure.
