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Workers' Sudden Illness It’s psychological

An investigation conducted by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research found large numbers of garment workers fell ill due to mass psychogenic illness, rather than from consuming ‘poisonous’ food or water.
The study concluded that the fire in Tazreen Fashions garment factory last November and the collapse of Rana Plaza in April this year may have contributed to the mental stress of the workers resulting in sickness.
“We have identified and investigated five outbreaks and found that they are suffering from mass psychogenic illness,” said IEDCR Director Prof Mahmudur Rahman yesterday while speaking at a workshop for media at the institute’s auditorium in Mohakhali.
He said that nothing significant was found after water samples collected from the factories were tested in the environmental microbiology lab at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh. “Although the aerobic bacterial count in the water samples was higher than the World Health Organization recommended count, bacterial contamination would take days to develop and the affected person would end up contracting diarrhoea.”
IEDCR recommended that the sick workers be isolated and provided with immediate medical attention and as long term measures, a friendly environment and improved ventilation systems must always be maintained.
Renowned psychiatrist Dr Mohit Kamal and Director General of Health Services Md Shefyetullah were also present at the workshop.
Dr Kamal said counselling systems were non-existent in the garment factories and needed to be reinforced immediately.
Shefyetullah said, “The Ministry of Labour, BGMEA and BKMEA must ensure that all the garment factories follow the Occupational Health guidelines of labour ministry which requires one doctor for every 500 workers,” as he pointed out that doctors, nurses and paramedics at most garment factories existed only on paper.

Source - The Daily Star