| Font Size |
First it was gastroenteritis, then cases of cholera among the gastro victims and now the fear of dengue outbreak looms large over the city. The city has already seen three deaths among nearly 600 gastro-affected patients, most of them in the Punjabi Bagh locality.
It all began in the first week of June when gastroenteritis first struck areas of Madhopuri and Sunder Nagar, which soon engulfed Punjabi Bagh thereby affecting 600 persons. Over a two dozen cases have also been recorded in the Muslim Colony in Sherpur.
However, the latest fear the city has to grapple with is a 'dengue outbreak', given the large amount of larvae being detected in the city every day by the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme team and the health department officials.
The team has detected larvae at more than a dozen places, says Dr Amarjit Kaur, regional director of NVBDCP. There is a high probability that the dengue virus may revisit the city this season in a big way, considering the fact that 3,000 persons were taken ill last year claiming 13 lives.
The NVBDCP team along with the officials of the anti-larvae wing of the health department has found live larvae on the premises of DMCH, CMCH, MC office at Mata Rani Chowk, Police Lines, Central Jail, railway station and bus stand among others.
"As for gastroenteritis, illegal water connections in vehras of various areas of the city inhabited mainly by migrant population are the root cause of the outbreaks. It has been taking a toll on the lives of migrant population who live in poor hygienic conditions prevailing in their surroundings," says Dr SS Dhir, district health officer.
Dr Charanjeet Singh Uppal, health officer associated with the Municipal Corporation in Ludhiana, claimed that the MC had taken required measures to prevent the spread of diseases.
"We have filed cases against six persons in connection with illegal water connections in the vehras of Punjabi Bagh where habitants fell sick with gastro. Besides, we have constituted a 40-member team which would be responsible for creating awareness in four MC zones and will conduct house to house visits in the disease-prone areas," Dr Charanjeet said.
About the fogging operations, he said the MC had started the fogging of the six high-risk localities identified by the health department.
More diarrhoea cases pour in
As many as 15 fresh cases of diarrhoea were reported in Muslim Colony of Sherpur today. Dr Gurjeet Singh, a senior medical officer, said as many as 30 patients have been identified in the area in the two days. He said teams of the health department visited 2,358 houses and conducted 48 group meetings in Muslim Nagar, Ranjit Nagar and Deep Nagar in Sherpur and distributed ORS packs and chlorine tablets.
Discuss this story on expressindia forums
|
|