Alcohol poisoning patients increased dramatically
The number of people infected, dying, and hospitalized due to alcohol poisoning in 2017 increased dramatically compared to the past 5 years.
At the workshop "Strengthening measures to prevent alcohol poisoning during the Lunar New Year and the 2018 spring festival season", Mr. Nguyen Hung Long, Deputy Director of the Department of Food Safety, Ministry of Health, said that in 2017, the whole country recorded 10 cases, 119 people were infected, 115 people went to the hospital and 11 people died.
Previously, this number tended to decrease from 2013 to 2016. Of which, the number of food poisoning cases due to alcohol was highest in the Northern mountainous region.
 |
According to the Food Safety Department, currently, poisoning by alcohol with high methanol content is 9/28 cases, accounting for 32.1%; alcohol soaked with tobacco accounts for 17.9%; alcohol soaked with poisonous forest plants accounts for 39.3%... Alcohol with high methanol content causes 7 poisoning cases, making 106 people sick, 23 people died.
In Hanoi, from the beginning of 2017 until now, 40 patients in 12 districts have been poisoned by methanol. Currently, 28 patients are stable, 12 patients in serious condition asked to be discharged from the hospital and died at home. Most of the patients drank alcohol from different addresses with unknown origin and label, sold at small retail establishments.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien also said that according to statistics, by 2025, the country's alcohol output will reach about 440,000 liters with thousands of alcohol production facilities. Alcohol and beer abuse causes many harmful effects on health, increases the risk of traffic accidents, and is detrimental to security and order.
Alcohol is the cause of 31% of fights and murders, 33% of rapes, 18% of traffic accidents and 60 different diseases such as liver, stomach, cardiovascular...
In particular, according to research by the Central Institute of Mental Health, the rate of mental treatment due to alcohol accounts for 5-6% of patients and is still increasing.
The Minister of Health stated that the current rate of alcohol poisoning is about 1-2%/year, but the death rate is about 7%/year. Therefore, alcohol is a worrying issue, especially during the upcoming Lunar New Year and festivals.
