BHUBANESWAR: In a major diarrhoea outbreak in the city in recent years, around 150 people in Niladri Vihar have been affected in last couple of days, triggering panic in the locality.
The affected residents are from Nilamadhab Niwas, a slum dwellers rehabilitation colony in Ward no.13. They are suffering from loose motion, fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, and body ache. While several are being treated at a local health camp set up by the city health administration, five critically ill patients have been referred to Capital Hospital for specialised care.
Locals alleged that the outbreak began a few days ago, but their complaints were overlooked. The source of the contamination, according to them, is a sump tank supplying water to the area. They reported to have found mud, wood, and waste materials in the water tank, which was not cleaned and disinfected for over a year.
As more people developed diarrhoea symptoms, the city health administration pressed three medical teams into service. The teams made a door-to-door visit and treated the affected people. “This is the first time in recent years that we are seeing such a large-scale outbreak in the city. Some students in OUAT campus were affected by diarrhoea a few months ago and it too was due to water contamination,” said an official.
Additional district urban public health officer Dr Nilamani Senapati said 126 people have been affected so far. All are out of danger and the situation is under control now. A medical team is camping in the area. Water samples taken from the spot have been sent for testing, he said.
Nodal officer of urban metropolitan surveillance unit (UMSU) under Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Dr Pramila Baral and her team, including microbiologist, food safety expert, communication specialist and epidemiologist have also conducted house-to-house investigation, distributed medicines and ORS packets.
More than 2,000 people from 450 families are now residing in Nilamadhab Niwas, which was developed with over 900 housing units to rehabilitate slum dwellers displaced for various urban infrastructure projects.
As health workers continue to monitor the situation, residents remain anxious. “We are scared to even drink water now. The government should supply us drinking water till the normalcy is restored and tanks are properly disinfected, said a local resident. Last year, the CAG had pulled up the state government for forcing people to consume contaminated water for which nearly half a crore people in Odisha were affected by acute diarrhoea, typhoid, hepatitis and renal diseases between 2017-18 and 2021-22.