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Malaria outbreak in Saranda: Two women die, 3 dozens fall prey
Dimba Chatomba, who carried his dead son in a bag, now has malaria along with family members amid an outbreak in Churgi village, West Singhbhum.
Dimba Chatomba, who was forced to carry his 4-month-old dead son in a plastic bag in the absence of ambulance or mortuary vehicle on Friday, has now fallen prey to malaria himself along with two of his family members even as an outbreak of malaria resulted in the deaths of two women, with nearly three dozen people falling sick in Churgi village under Manoharpur Block of West Singhbhum district, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.
“A 40-yr-old woman Turi Champia died during treatment on December 15 while 28-yr-old Jabni Laguri died on December 15 after having fever for a month. Whether they died in malaria or not is not known conclusively. Our team rushed to Churgi on Monday and collected blood samples of 69 persons. Of this, 13 with fever have tested malaria positive while 19 persons without fever have also tested positive. Three children have been admitted in Manoharpur community health centre (CHC),” Dr Bharti Goreti Minz, civil surgeon told HT on Tuesday.
Dr Minz further said another team had been screening in the Bars Baljori village under Noamundi Block where Dimna Chatomba and two of his relatives have tested malaria positive.
“Dimna, his brother and an elderly woman of his family have fallen sick and tested positive for malaria. Total 10 persons have been detected as suffering from malaria in the village. The team will cover all the adjacent villages under the health sub-centre today and next couple of days. We are giving medicines along with teams of SAIL in Gua, Kiriburu and Chiria, Tata Steel in Noamundi and NGOs like HANS and PHIA running their camps in areas inside the Saranda forests,” added Dr Minz.
Dimba Chatomba hit the headlines after he was forced to carry the body of his 4-month-old son in a plastic bag for 70 km from Chaibasa Sadar Hospital (CSH) to his home in Bara Baljori on Friday last, triggering statewide outrage. His infant son was also tested positive for malaria.
The three children admitted in Manoharpur CHC has been identified as 4-yr-old Singa Hembram, 4-yr-old Laru Laguri and 13-yr-old Sunil Laguri.
