5 Children In Cianjur Poisoned By Betadine Fruit

JAKARTA - The Health Office (Dinkes) of Cianjur Regency, West Java, noted that five children in Hegarmanah Village, Bojongpicung District, were poisoned after consuming betadine fruit, three people were referred to the Cianjur Sayang Hospital on Monday.

Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Division of the Cianjur Health Office, Frida Laila Yahya, said the poisoning that befell five children in Bojongpicung District after consuming betadine fruit whose leaves are known to heal wounds.

"Currently, three children aged 5-9 years are still undergoing treatment at the Sayang Cianjur Hospital, due to consuming fruit from betadine trees on Sunday (9/2) which grew a lot in the village, their condition has started to improve after receiving medical assistance on Monday," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, February 10.

He explained that betadine trees in the community are known to be able to heal wounds or the same as antiseptics, but the victims' fruit is eaten because of ignorance, especially so far the leaves are often made of tape.

Therefore, his party intensifys socialization to parents in order to avoid children consuming wild fruit or plants that are not commonly consumed, in order to avoid poisoning, including increasing supervision of children while playing in the environment.

"We will provide supervision and monitoring of the five children who are poisoned by involving health workers at the local health center," he said.

Bojongpicung Police Chief AKP Eriyanto said the poisoning that befell a number of children aged 5-9 years in Hegarmanah Village after they ate fruit from a betadine tree growing in the yard of a resident's house.

"It is called a betadine tree because the leaves can heal wounds, the five victims who are playing take their fruit and eat it on Sunday afternoon, the five children begin to complain of stomach pain accompanied by nausea at night," he said.

Seeing their children complaining of stomach pain and nausea, parents took them to the local health center on Monday morning, three of them had to be referred to the Sayang Cianjur Hospital, while the other two people had undergone treatment at the local health center before being allowed to go home.

"Three people who were referred to have started to improve, we together with the sub-district and village officials appealed to parents to be able to supervise their children while playing in the home environment, so as not to consume fruit from wild plants," he said.