BHUBANESWAR/BERHAMPUR: Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das on Saturday asked the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) to send a medical team to the affected Kashipur block in Rayagada district to monitor the diarrhoea outbreak which has claimed six lives.
The Minister directed the district health authorities to step up measures to contain the spread of the disease and submit an action-taken report indicating the causes behind the recent outbreak within three days. The official death count remained at six in the block but the number of patients affected continued to rise on Saturday.
“The CDMO has been asked to send a team of specialised doctors to treat patients in the affected villages and engage healthcare workers to sensitise villagers on sanitation and hygiene measures to be taken,” Das said.
Earlier on the day, Rayagada Collector Swadha Dev Singh visited Dudukabahal, Jhodia and Tikiri in Kashipur block. She met the family members of the people who succumbed to the disease and visited the hospitals to review the situation.
The water-borne disease is believed to have broken out from a contaminated open well in Maliguda village and spread to other nearby villages. The Collector directed RWSS officials to disinfect the well and repair the defunct solar pump to facilitate water supply to the villagers.
CDMO Dr Lal Mohan Routray informed that an alternate water source is being arranged and medicines are being distributed in the affected areas an additional doctor has been sent to Tikiri Primary Health Centre.
Forty-nine patients have been discharged in the last three days but 45 more are undergoing treatment at Tikiri hospital and nine at Kashipur hospital. Dr Routray said steps are being taken to check the spread and even the cured patients are kept under vigil.
The deployment of three medical teams in affected villages of Kashipur block brought the situation under control to some extent through the outbreak seems to have spread to Dangasil, Renga, Hadiguda, Maikanch, Sankarada, Kuchipadar where people are reportedly down with diarrhoea. The Collector also visited the Utkal Alumina hospital at Ushapada and after interacting with the staff directed to keep 30 beds ready.