Macau, China, 24 Sept – The Macau Department of Health has confirmed that a 16-month old child, who drank Nestlé Gold powdered milk, has kidney stones and is receiving clinical treatment in a hospital in Macau.
A statement from the Macau Department of Health released Tuesday said that the child was brought to the Conde de São Januário Hospital by the child’s parents after performing tests in a private laboratory. Tests that were then carried out in the state-owned hospital confirmed the diagnosis.
The milk that was drunk by the child was produced in the Chinese province of Heilongjiang and was identified in the Hong Kong press as containing melamine.
Melamine is the same chemical detected in powdered milk brands manufactured in mainland China, such as Yili, Mengniu and Guangming, that has so far poisoned thousands of babies since May.
This most recent discovery has made the Macau Department of Health carry out various types of tests on powdered milk of the same brand, and has made it call on the parents of children that have drunk Nestlé milk to take them immediately to a health centre for more detailed tests to identify health problems caused by melamine.
The Macau Department of Health has since Monday carried out 774 tests at day care centres and primary schools in Macau. Of this amount, 27 were subject to a second stage of microscopic analysis of urine sediment, and of these, 11 were submitted to ecography tests, without any positive cases up until now.
The Macau Department of Health, also known as the Macau Health Bureau, expects to perform urine tests on around 1,000 students per day.
The Health Bureau launched a campaign of exams to check the health status of children that were included in the Macau Department of Education’s milk programme for the 2007/2008 school year and announced that the exams will be extended to all primary schools and day care centres, representing roughly 10,000 children.
(MacauNews)
