DAWN CHAN
SHAH ALAM: The Health Ministry is in the midst of identifying the percentage of methanol as well as other elements contained in several brands of compounded hard liquor which had caused the death of 19 people.
Its director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said more tests on samples were currently being carried out.
Dr Noor Hisham said they had started doing tests and all specimens had been sent to the Sungai Buloh National Public Health Laboratory and its labs to identify the content as well as the kind of compounds in the beverages that had led to the deaths.
“We need to do further investigations on the said brands. It is hard liquor but sometimes, there will be other elements mixed in it. This is not the original content. It is compounded hard liquor.
“One of the content that we have identified is methanol. It may be too high. If not it would not have been fatal,” he said in a press conference at Shah Alam Hospital today after launching the World Health Organisation/International Agency for The Prevention of Blindness Western Pacific/Ministry of Health Western Pacific Cataract Surgical Outcome Conference.
Asked on how long the lab tests would take, Dr Noor Hisham said it depended on what kind of compounds they were looking at.
“We are also looking into the percentage of concentration. All these have to be verified first before we can help the police to take further action,” he added.
Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad was scheduled to hold a press conference later today where he would further address the issue.
The ministry had yesterday confirmed that 19 people had died from consuming alcohol containing methanol, while 14 others were in critical condition.
In a statement issued yesterday, Dr Noor Hisham said nine more people were being warded for observation.
As of 5pm yesterday, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry had received 51 notifications of alcohol poisoning, with 45 were reported in Selangor and six in Kuala Lumpur.
He said three cases involved Malaysians while 51 people were Myanmar nationals, Nepalese, Bangladeshi and Indian nationals.