Embassy vows assistance

KUWAIT CITY, March 24: A Filipino family of four that was rushed by an ambulance on Saturday to the Mubarak Al Kabeer Hospital due to alleged food poisoning is appealing to the concerned authorities and the Philippine Embassy for help after one of the family members passed away.

Faye Lano, 32, together with her husband Dax Lano, 35, son Sigfried Jacob, 14 and daughter Zara, 7 were admitted to the emergency room after experiencing recurrent vomiting and diarrhea on Saturday morning.

“On Friday afternoon, we ordered some fried chicken, siopao and drinks from a fastfood chain and these were delivered to our home which we ate on Friday night along with some homemade snacks. But I suspect the chicken might have caused it because it didn’t look fresh but we were hungry at that time so we ate it. Then around 2 am on Saturday, we all had recurrent vomiting and diarrhea,” recalled Faye.

On the same day, Faye and her daughter Zara were cleared by the attending physician and discharged around 2 pm while her husband and son remained in the hospital pending test results including COVID-19 test which later on turned out to be negative.

They were kept in the COVID-19 ward due to their recent travel history. Faye’s two kids arrived in Kuwait on March 2 from the Philippines for their annual vacation and were accompanied by her husband.

“After being discharged from the hospital, Zara and I went home at around 2 pm but around 4 pm, we again experienced recurrent stomach pain, nausea and vomiting. My daughter was in excruciating pain and seemed to be gasping for breath prompting me to call up the ambulance again. The last thing that I remembered, Zara passed out in the ambulance and they were trying to revive her. I stayed in the ICU for one day and it was only Sunday afternoon that I learned that my daughter is gone and they said she was pronounced dead on arrival,” sobbed Faye during a video call with the Arab Times as she seeks answer to the cause of her daughter’s death.

After a day of recovery in the ICU, Faye was shifted to the medical ward. Her medical record showed that she suffered GE septic shock and septicemia. Septicemia is a serious bloodstream infection. It’s also known as blood poisoning and it occurs when a bacterial infection elsewhere in the body, such as the lungs or skin, enters the bloodstream.

Meanwhile, Faye’s husband Dax and son were discharged from the hospital on Monday. Based on the hospital’s discharge summary shared by Dax to the Arab Times, he suffered gastroenteritis (food poisoning ) while his son was diagnosed with gastroenteritis and colitis of unspecified origin.

“We are appealing for help especially to the Philippine Embassy to help us find out what’s the cause of our daughter’s death. We want to request for an autopsy so we will know why it happened, if it’s caused by the food we ordered from the fastfood chain then they have to be held liable for my daughter’s death. We are also requesting for the embassy’s assistance on the repatriation of my daughter’s remains,” stated Dax.

Reliable sources revealed that the fastfood chain was shut down by the concerned authorities pending investigation. A representative of the fastfood chain who requested for anonymity told the Arab Times that they have been fully cooperating with the concerned authorities on their probe as they reiterated their adherence to the highest food safety standards.

They expressed their deepest sympathies to the family. Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy vowed to extend to the family the needed assistance. “We would like to extend our condolences to the family for the demise of their daughter. We will seek the Kuwait government’s help to expedite the autopsy and the shipment of their daughter’s remains,” stated Philippine Charge d’ Affaires Charleson Hermosura.

By Michelle Fe Santiago Arab Times Staff