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Himachal: Diarrhoea cases in Dharamshala villages go past 100
Kangra chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Gurdarshan Gupta said the cases were detected during active and passive surveillance in the affected villages; adds two patients aged five and 83 were admitted to a hospital while others are undergoing treatment at home
The acute diarrhoeal cases in villages located on the outskirts of Dharamshala town touched 105-mark with three new cases surfacing on Tuesday.
Kangra chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Gurdarshan Gupta said the cases were detected during active and passive surveillance in the affected villages. “Two patients aged five and 83 were admitted to a hospital while others are undergoing treatment at home,” he added.
The situation is under control and block-level rapid response teams and field staffers of the health and family welfare department are keeping check on the new cases, the CMO said.
The diarrhoea outbreak was first reported in Passu, Shilla, Bhatehar villages in January-end. Contaminated water is said to be the reason behind the outbreak.
The health department had formed two rapid response teams, which are going door to door to make people aware of preventive measures. Medicines, ORS and zinc tablets are being made available to the people.
Meanwhile, the health department, in collaboration with the Jal Shakti department, also carried out a mass cleaning drive in the affected villages and sanitised the water storage tanks.
Villagers, however, said some construction work was underway at Bhatehar village, where labourers were defecating in the open due to lack of toilet facilities. That probably contaminated the water, they alleged.
Local panchayat pradhan Sonia said some migrant labourers were also living in shanties in the village. “We are identifying the people who have rented out rooms without toilet facility. A strict action will be taken against the offenders,” she added.
