Vietnamese rush children to hospitals for kidney tests
Written by Writer on Sunday, October 5th, 2008
Vietnamese rush children to hospitals for kidney tests
Vietnamese hospitals are overloaded with parents who have brought their infants for kidney check-ups, fearing that they had drunk milk contaminated with the poisonous industrial chemical melamine.
Children’s Hospital 1 has seen more than 6,000 infants, an increase of 1,000 children over the previous week.
Local tests have shown that some imported Chinese milk contains melamine, which was added by dairy companies in China to enhance the protein level of the product.
Thousands of Chinese children have become ill from having drunk the milk, and some have developed kidney stones.
Dr Tran Thoai Lan, head of Children Hospital 1’s kidney – endocrine department, said every day her division was answering dozens of questions from parents.
“I brought my son to the hospital for a check and to find out more about the disease,” a woman who lives in Binh Thanh District said.
A week-long nationwide inspection of imported milk products has resulted in officials having found a large quantity of unsafe food traded in Viet Nam’s markets.
The health ministry’s health examination and treatment management department said no children had suffered kidney stones or other complications.
Dr Ly Ngoc Kinh, head of the department, said hospitals were testing for kidney stones during routine medical check-ups.
Domestic suppliers of milk-based products are rushing to laboratories for melamine tests on their products.
The health ministry said around 500 milk samples were sent to four main testing centres in Ha Noi and HCM City for melamine detection, creating a serious burden at the centres.
Milk and diary product manufacturers must have their products tested at laboratories authorised by the ministry.
The ministry said results of 500 samples would be known within two weeks.
The Department of Food Safety and Hygiene Department under the Ministry of Health has tested 298 milk samples. Six of the samples that tested positive with melamine included
Chinese brand YiLi products and a cream powder imported from China by the Best Choice Company.
The ministry published a list of 87 dairy products without melamine on Monday.
BY : ASIA NEWS NETWORK
