About 200 Burmese workers from Asia Apparel Knitting Co Ltd in the Thai border town of Mae Sot are recovering from food poisoning at the local Mae Tao clinic, officials said on Tuesday.

Asia Apparel, owned by a Hong Kong businessman, employs about 800 Burmese workers in two separate factories in Mae Sot’s Naung Boa and Mae Ku districts.

A factory supervisor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that two Thai contractors supply pre-cooked food to the factories daily. Yesterday’s dinner, the supervisor added, consisted of chicken, squash, beans and a meat curry – but workers are uncertain of what kind of meat was in the curry.

About 200 workers were sent to the clinic, beginning at 11 p.m. yesterday, the supervisor said.

“We all had our dinner yesterday as usual,” said Kyaw Myo, an Asia Apparel worker who fell ill yesterday but is now recovering at Mae Tao clinic. “But at about 11 p.m. some workers started to vomit and others suffered stomachaches. [Before eating] we noticed that the curry smelled rotten,
but we have no choice but to eat what we’re given,” he added.

Because there are not enough beds at the Mae Tao clinic, many patients are receiving treatment while lying on bamboo mats spread over the floor. Others are being treated in the clinic’s library.

“We have given [intravenous] drips to the patients with serious illness,” said Aung Maw, one of the clinic’s medics. He added that less serious patients were given re-hydration salts and other medicine.

Asia Apparel factory workers said they came to the Mae Tao clinic because they have not completed the registration procedure to work legally in Thailand and therefore government hospitals would not accept them. The Mae Tao clinic specializes in treating Burmese migrant workers and refugees in Thailand.

“We all have already registered [for work permits] but we have not had our medical check-ups yet to complete the process,” said Kyaw Myo. “So we had to come here.”