A five-year-old child and nine of the child’s colleagues were admitted at the Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital in Francistown last week after reportedly eating a wild plant, hospital sources said.
Chris Habana, the hospital’s Public Relations Officer, confirmed to The Telegraph on Monday that the health centre had admitted 10 children in serious condition. One of them died on arrival.
All 10 were from the Gerald Estates location.
“The report we got is that these children, who are neighbours at Gerald Estates, were playing in an abandoned home and ate a wild plant,” Habana said. “Unfortunately, one of the children passed away on arrival in the hospital. It appears that the children ate a similar plant as they were all showing the same symptoms of diarrhoea.”
The ages of the children range from five to eight years.
Habana said that on Monday, the hospital discharged four of the children. The other five were still recuperating in their hospital beds.
He expressed concern over parents neglecting their children, ultimately leading to such incidents.
“It is very sad that a life was lost. This is the rainy season and there are many attractive poisonous plants and it is very important that parents keep an eye on their children to avoid such sad incidents,” he warned, adding that the hospital rarely receives such cases.
