Woman dies after excessive alcohol intake

A 20 year old woman, who boasted before some young men in Kumasi that she could quaff a full bottle of the alcoholic beverage, “Pusher Gin Betters” ended up losing her life after consuming the stuff.

The deceased, Akua Ataa, was pronounced dead by doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) some five hours after she consumed the drink at the Canadian Drinking Spot at the military barracks in Kumasi.

An eyewitness said at about 4pm on Thursday, December 6, 2007, the deceased went to the Canadian Spot and met a group of young men at the spot drinking various brands of alcoholic beverages.

According to the eyewitness, the deceased boasted before the men that she could quaff a bottle of pusher gin within five minutes without any problem and challenged them to buy her one bottle because that particular drink was not only her favourite but had been taking a full bottle regularly .

While some of the men disputed her claim, insisting that a full bottle of the drink would put her to sleep for hours, the woman dared them to it.

In the ensuing argument, one of the young men paid for the cost of a bottle of the pusher gin bitters and gave it to Ataa who finished the drink within minutes to cheers from the onlookers.

After she had finished drinking the bitters, the woman demanded a bottle of Coca Cola to “top” what she had just drank. They bought it for her and she took it.

Minutes later she collapsed onto her seat but thinking that she was drunk, the men quickly brought mashed kenkey with milk and offered it to her as a way of energising her, but she did not respond to the calls to stand up.

Ataa was left there for sometime, hoping that she would regain her strength, but when they realised that she was still not responding to attempts to wake her up, they rushed her to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) for treatment.

A source close to the Public Relations Directorate of KATH said the woman was brought to the hospital around 9;15 pm on Thursday, at a time that “her heart had completely stopped beating and the eye not responding to any light”.

The source said “medical examination proved that she was dead before she was brought to the hospital”, stressing that if she had been brought earlier, the medical officers would have been able to revive her.

The body of the deceased had been deposited at the mortuary awaiting autopsy.