Malay Dignity Congress participants down with food poisoning

A total of 197 people who attended the Malay Dignity Congress at the Malawati Stadium here today are down with suspected food poisoning after consuming food provided by the organiser at the event.

Selangor Health director Dr Khalid Ibrahim said the department received a report on the incident at about 11.15 am today.

"We received a report that some of the victims had symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting, following which an emergency team was sent to the location.

"Following examination, 27 of them were classified as semi-critical and 91 were in stable condition,” he said in a statement today.

The nasi lemak served by the organiser of the Malay Dignity Congress was found to be the cause of the food poisoning that affected 197 participants.

Dr Khalid said this was based on analysis of food samples taken at the location of the event.

"All of the victims were university students who ate the nasi lemak when they arrived for the programme this morning.

“The cause of the poisoning is obtained based on five nasi lemak samples that were left at the location of the event,” he said in a statement.

He said the Emergency Department at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang and the Shah Alam Hospital had been placed on alert since 11.50 am today to receive the patients.

The Malay Dignity Congress was organised by four public universities - Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) - to discuss and find solutions to problems faced by the Malays.

- Bernama