Jadavpur residents flock Baghajatin Hospital as diarrhoea terror runs rampant with 21 new cases
12 Feb 2018 5:33 PM GMT
Kolkata: With the fresh admission of 21 people afflicted with diarrhoea from Jadavpur on Monday, panic has spread over vast areas where people have refused to drink water supplied by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and are queuing up in front of local stores to buy packaged water.
The worst affected areas are wards 101, 102 and 110 of KMC. Thirteen people have been admitted to Baghajatin State General Hospital from Sunday night. The patients have complained of acute stomach ache coupled with nausea and fever. Eight more people having similar symptoms have been admitted to Bangur Hospital. It may be mentioned that already 16 people are receiving treatment at Baghajatin State General Hospital.
Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who visited Baghajatin State General Hospital for the third consecutive day on Monday, said there has been no mixing of drinking water with sewer water, though KMC is yet to find out the actual cause. Water samples have been collected from different areas. He urged people not to panic.
"KMC has taken all the possible measures. ORS solution has been distributed among the residents of affected areas and the doctors are monitoring the whole situation," the Mayor said.
He said some doctors have told him that occurrence of diarrhoea during the change of season is quite common. "We are trying to find out the cause. The engineers are collecting water samples which are being sent for examination," Chatterjee said.
Atin Ghosh, Member, Mayor-in-Council (Health), who visited Baghajatin State General Hospital, said water samples are to be sent to the laboratory of School of Tropical Medicine (STM) following the advice of Dr Biswaranjan Satpathi, advisor, state Health department, who visited Baghajatin State General Hospital on Monday.
Ghosh said the percentage of Coliform Bacteria in the stool samples sent for examination is less than 1 percent. In people suffering from diarrhoea, the percentage of this bacteria goes up to about 10 percent.
He said running noses and diarrhoea are not uncommon during season change. He maintained that as people have become panicky, they are coming to hospital.
But despite the assurance given by the Mayor and Mayor-in-Council Member that KMC has taken all possible measures to stop spread of the disease, local people continued to visit Baghajatin State General Hospital. They alleged that KMC has not sent water tankers in the affected areas and they were being forced to buy packaged water.
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