THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cholera scare in Attingal has once again turned the spotlight on the pathetic living conditions of migrant labourers in the district. Health officials have now instructed employers and contractors in the municipality to ensure hygienic accommodation and other basic amenities to the labourers to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
“Health officials had visited the living quarters of migrant labourers in Attingal and provided necessary instructions to the contractors to ensure hygiene. Their living conditions were found to be extremely poor,” Additional DMO Dr Neena Rani said on Sunday.
The District Medical Office (DMO) was thrown into a tizzy last Friday after a migrant labourer from West Bengal aged 23 employed in Attingal tested positive for cholera. He took ill with acute diarrhoea and vomiting. Lab tests at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College had confirmed it was a case of cholera, prompting the DMO to alert the district administration and state health authorities.
No fresh cases have been reported from Attingal, but health officials are monitoring the situation on a daily basis. Preventive measures are being taken in collaboration with the Attingal municipality, the Additional DMO said. In three recent instances of cholera being reported in the state - Pathanamthitta and Kozhikode in August, and now, Attingal - the victims were labourers from other states. Health officials assert that it is the duty of employers or the contractors to ensure healthy living conditions for the labourers, but proper accommodation or toilet facilities are rarely ensured. The health situation turns grave in the rainy season when epidemics are more likely to spread.
Following the cholera report from Attingal, health officials have instructed medical officers to adopt precautionary measures across the district. ‘’We’ve asked medical officers and field staff in the district to chlorinate and super-chlorinate wells in their respective areas of jurisdiction and also to conduct inspections in restaurants and wayside eateries. Cholera has not been reported from elsewhere in the district, but the precautions are being taken in view of the rainy season,’’ Dr Neena Rani said.
Thousands of migrant labourers are employed in the district, a large number of them at construction sites. In June, four migrant labourers had died in an earth cave-in on a construction site near Sreekaryam, revealing the unsafe conditions in which they work.