In a hospital for infectious diseases in Astana, a patient was served porridge for dinner which contained a white worm.
According to KTK, the incident was recorded by the patient's roommate, after which the information spread on social media. The worm was dead, presumably due to the heat treatment. The patient was in shock.
"The nurse comes over, she says to her: 'Look, a worm has come out of my porridge.' She was in a state of shock – we don't eat worms every day! I heard this isn't an isolated case. As I understand it, this is normal for them. I told the head of the food unit that we didn't eat the porridge after that worm. She laughed and said: 'Girls, eat up, it's protein!' — recounted Gulnaz Nadirkhanova, who was in the room.
The head of the department at the infectious disease centre, Akbota Abishbayeva, also did not see the incident as a serious problem.
"Well, it is an object in cooked porridge. If you think about it, it could happen at home too. Sometimes it happens, a small stone can get in too. It was cooked for a certain amount of time, meaning even if you ate it – nothing would happen," she stated.
However, the director of the facility, Zeken Isakov, expressed a different opinion. According to him, if the worm had been boiled along with the grain, it would not have been noticed during the meal.
"This is an incredible case! In such a whole form during the cooking of porridge… I have certain questions, overall. You could identify a fragment, but this is a completely fresh 'product'. Our catering is outsourced," he noted.
At LLP «Astana Construction – 2050», responsible for patient meals, they stated that an internal investigation has been launched.
"There's nowhere for the worm to come from. We buy the grain, a fresh purchase happens every two weeks. So I don't know where from. We are looking into it now. Maybe it's at the warehouse where we buy the grain from the supplier, his stock has been lying around. Because the bag is sealed, we can't get inside," commented the company's director, Botagoz Akimbekova.
The management of the infectious diseases hospital has sent a letter of claim to the company. However, the contract will not be terminated: the contractor will continue to provide meals for patients until the end of the tender period, that is, until the end of the current year.
Earlier, a video filmed in a kindergarten in Taldykorgan, Zhetysu region, caused a public outcry. The footage showed cockroaches crawling among the buns and other food in the institution's canteen.