JOIN USCoronavirus Lockdown: Brother, sister die after consuming alcohol-based hand sanitiser
A man and his sister, both habitual drinkers from Kalghatagi taluk in the district, died on Sunday after they consumed alcohol-based hand sanitiser as an alternative for
alcohol.
The deceased were identified as Basavaraj Venkappa Kurvinkoppa (45), a daily wager, his sister Jambavva (47) of Gambyapur village.
The siblings were depressed after they could not find liquor for the past one month due to the lockdown clamped to mitigate the coronavirus spread.
However, on learning that sanitiser had alcohol content, they started consuming it for the past four days and breathed their last on Sunday at KIMS,
Hubballi.
Doctors said that Basavaraj and Jambavva developed acute stomach pain on Saturday evening and were immediately brought to Civil Hospital in Dharwad for treatment. The doctors at Civil Hospital advised his family members to shift them to KIMS on Sunday as their health condition started to deteriorate.
Basavaraj died on Sunday afternoon after failing to respond to medical treatment. A while later, his sister breathed her last.
According to police, Basavaraj, a habitual drinker, had brought sanitiser bottles and mixed it with hooch which he got from Shigigatti tanda on outskirts of Kalghatagi. He consumed this mixture, along with his sister, for four days before both developed acute stomach pain and breathlessness on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Health Department has cautioned people against consuming sanitiser. Drinking sanitiser leads to multi-organ failure and there are less chances of survival, the officials said.