Soon after receiving the information of methanol added alcohol -related death in the Northern Province of Bac Giang, the Ministry dispatched its order to the Directorate of Market Surveillance of Vietnam to withdraw the bootleg liquor from market as well as impose penalty on violators as per the present regulations.
Related: Methanol poisoning claims one death and six others hospitalized in Bac Giang
Last week, a person has been killed and six others hospitalized after drinking alcohol with a high methanol content in the northern Vietnamese province of Bac Giang, Tuoi Tre Newspaper reported.
The Poison Control Center under Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi confirmed it had received a male patient who was in a deep coma with dilated pupils and hypotension on November 3.
A test showed that his blood methanol concentration was 141mg/dL, which resulted in severe metabolic acidosis, while his CT scan revealed serious diffuse brain damage. As his condition did not improve despite doctors’ efforts, the family decided to take him home so that he could pass away among family members.
According to the Ministry’s press release yesterday evening, the Ministry has just received a report of Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital about seven people who drank methanol contaminated alcohol from backstreet distilleries; consequently, one of them died and one suffered poor vision and brain complications.
In its portal, the Ministry of Health also released the news of the death relating to consuming toxic alcohol.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade also warned people not to consume the product named Ruou nep – Ham ruou Viet ( Stick rice wine – Viet cellar) made in a distillery in the Northern Province of Hung Yen. Anyone discovering the product should inform state competent agencies to recall.
Bootleggers often add methanol – a highly toxic form of alcohol sometimes used as an anti-freeze – to their mixture to increase its strength. If ingested in even small quantities, methanol can cause blindness, liver damage and death, according to the Saigon Giai Phong Newspaper ./.
By Van Phuc – Translated by Uyen Phuong/ Editing by Vietnam Insider’s staff
