Patrons are still awaiting word on the exact cause of their illness more than a month after approximately 100 people fell ill after attending a May 30 breakfast party at Maracas organised by AM Premium. In a telephone interview yesterday, Priya Gomes, one of the affected patrons, said she had since fully recovered but added, “It has been over a month now and no result has been posted as to what it could have been.” Initial reports cited saltfish consumed at the party as the cause for the illness.
Gomes was hospitalised for four days and put on IV drips as a result of gastroenteritis. She was ill for 11 days and suffered what she described as a significant loss of wages. She is an occupational therapist. She said she posted on the Ministry of Health's Facebook page as well as the Health Minister Fuad Khan's Facebook page asking for the follow-up results on the matter but had had no response. In a brief phone interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday Khan said the portfolio had been handed over to Chief Medical Officer Akenath Misir, who is out of the country. There was no reply to attempts to contact Misir.
In a June 11 T&T Guardian report when told that other people in the village, not connected with the breakfast event, had also been ill, Khan said he had a bad feeling about the Maracas River. He was quoted as asking where the caterers had got their water supply. Khan also said then that public health officials were continuing investigations. The T&T Guardian was told party promoter Marsha Thompson was in a meeting when attempts were made to contact her. Gomes said yesterday, “The minister indicated it could have been the river. “If it is the river, why haven't the citizens been notified? The last thing we need is some type of epidemic. If it was the caterers, are they still in operation? What are the repercussions? If not, what is the cause?”
Asked if the incident had changed her perception of such events, Gomes said it has opened her eyes, not only to ensuring that food at such parties is prepared on spot but to the health system.
While she was hospitalised, Gomes said, a nurse asked if she had bought her “own water” with which to take the pills being given to her. The June 11 T&T Guardian reported that Gomes was then considering legal action but was yet to make a decision. Another patron, Raquel Sampson, was also reported as saying she was seriously contemplating legal action.