VIJAYAWADA: Twenty-five people have been taken ill at Komerapalle village in Denduluru mandal of West Godavari district since Thursday late night with symptoms of headache, fainting and seizures, similar to the mystery illness that rocked Eluru in December last year. It came close on the heels of a similar incident at Pulla village in Bhimadole mandal a few days ago. A total of 29 people fell ill between January 17 and 19 and all of them were discharged by Thursday evening from Eluru government hospital.
Soon after receiving the news that people fell ill at Komerapalle, a village with 700 population, in the early hours of Friday, Denduluru MLA K Abbaya Chowdary, along with District Collector R Mutyalaraju, DM&HO Sunanda and a team of doctors, rushed to the village. After administering first aid, people were shifted to the district hospital in Eluru in 108 ambulances.
A total of 25 people were shifted by the evening and of them eight were discharged from hospital. The condition of 17 people undergoing treatment at the hospital is reported to be stable. Their condition is being monitored constantly by specialist doctors. A total 50 beds have been arranged for the cases of mystery illness. Deputy Chief Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas visited the houses of the people who fell ill and interacted with their family members to know the situation.
Speaking to mediapersons, he said the situation is under control and there is nothing to worry. “Two medical camps have been organised in the village and a door-to-door survey is being conducted to identify if there are more cases. When such illness was reported in Eluru in December, around 600 people were hospitalised. The official machinery worked day and night to restore normalcy and ensured that no fatalities took place. Teams of specialist doctors are monitoring the situation,” he said.
Nani found fault with the action of some activists of opposition parties preventing the health workers from shifting the patients to hospitals by sporting party colours. Criticising Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu for his comments against the YSRC government, the Deputy Chief Minister said such comments are making people suspect that there may be some conspiracy behind the mystery illness.
On the directions of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das, along with Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal, Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar and other officials, rushed to Komerapalle and took stock of the situation. They interacted with patients and their family members and spoke to the district officials to know the ground reality.
Speaking to mediapersons, the Chief Secretary said that the government is leaving no stone unturned to restore normalcy in the village at the earliest and get to the bottom of the entire episode. He said out of the total people who fell ill, 10 of them are in the age group of 12-35 years and and rest are above 35 years. There is fear among the people in wake of the Eluru incident and officials have been directed to allay fears of the people that the situation is under control. “We will submit a detailed report to the Chief Minister so to come up with the next course of action,” he said.
Elaborating further, Anil Kumar Singhal said the condition of those undergoing treatment is stable and there is no need to panic. “All the samples including that of blood, water, food, vegetables, rice, chicken, meat, fertilisers and others were collected and sent to laboratories for analysis. The test results of water came and no abnormalities were found. However, samples of water from all the water sources, including canals, overhead tanks, and ground water in about 60-70 villages located near Eluru are being collected for testing,” he explained.
When asked about the pesticide residue in water and vegetables was cited as the possible cause of mystery illness in Eluru by experts teams, Singhal said that they are awaiting results of food samples sent to laboratories. With regard to the report submitted by the high-level committee, he said it has been collated and once it is submitted to the Chief Minister, it will be disclosed to the public.