Simhastha: 17 health workers fall sick due to unhygienic conditions

Seventeen healthcare workers at the Simhastha fair are said to be suffering from diarrhoea. This report comes amid growing clamour over unsuitable living conditions on the fairgrounds.

Seventeen healthcare workers at the Simhastha fair are said to be suffering from diarrhoea. This report comes amid growing clamour over unsuitable living conditions on the fairgrounds.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar takes a dip in Kshipra river on Tuesday. (HT photo)

Unhygienic conditions, unavailability of safe drinking water and the summer heat are said to be the main reasons for them falling ill.

“There are around eight of us in a room and there are no facilities,” said Dr Rajesh Kumar. “Drinking water is being supplied by the administration and it is up to them to decide what kind of purification standards they adhere to.”

Dr Kumar, who is staying at St Mary’s School in Ujjain, said four-five doctors from his team had diarrhoea or food poisoning. “Someone or the other keeps getting diarrhoea, vomiting or loose-motions. Currently my roommate is suffering from food poisoning and has fever,” he said.

From Day 1 of the month-long fair, which began on April 22 and will conclude on May 21, doctors and health workers have been complaining of unsuitable and unhygienic living arrangements.

“The government has spent crores in a setup that provides no facilities at all to doctors,” said Dr Madhav Hasnani, a senior doctor from Indore. “Already mercury is on the rise this season and then to add to that we have poor facilities.”

Around 1,000 people suffered from dehydration on the first day of Simhastha and had to be taken to hospitals for

treatment.

“How will the doctors treat patients if they themselves continue to fall sick?” said Dr Hasnani.

But the fair office claims to have no knowledge of any problem or these complaints.

“We have made appropriate arrangements for doctors,” said Avinash Lavaniya, the head of Simhastha Mela Pradhikaran.

“There is ample amount of clean drinking water made available through a series of purifiers at various spots in the city. Also, the doctors are being given good allowances so that they can eat outside if the mess food does not suit them.”