Govt swings into action to check diarrhea outbreak

Vijayawada: Minister for medical and health and family welfare Y Satya Kumar Yadav on Sunday announced that 168 diarrhea cases have been reported from 23 villages in Andhra Pradesh since the beginning of this monsoon season and the government is monitoring the situation and taking measures to check the spread of cases.

The minister along with the officials of the Medical and Health department and Revenue department visited Jaggaiahpet in NTR district and spoke to the patients undergoing treatment with diarrhea in PHCs. He spoke to the Medical and Health, Panchayat, Municipal and other department officials and enquired about the reasons for the spread of diarrhea and the immediate measures being taken to control the same in Jaggaiahpet. He also inspected the municipal water supply system in Jaggaiahpet.

Addressing the media, the minister said that 58 diarrhea cases have been reported and 14 patients were discharged and the remaining were undergoing treatment. He said diarrhea cases have been reported in Kakinada, Guntur and Jaggaiahpet since the beginning of the monsoon season. He assured that the government would take necessary measures to check the spread of the disease.

He felt the contamination water could be the reason for the diarrhea in different parts of the state. He said the reasons like diversion of 15th Finance Commission grants, not cleaning of water pipelines, leakage of drinking water pipelines are some of the reasons for the outbreak of diarrhea. The state Cabinet is likely to discuss this issue on Monday.

The minister said ANMs and Asha workers were creating awareness among the people on the precautions that need to be taken to control diarrhea which includes strict adherence to personal hygiene.

The minister said every Wednesday water tests are being conducted at the drinking water supply points and so far, 30,000 samples have been tested. He announced that low level of water contamination was noticed at 217 points. He said the people’s representatives and the government officials were collectively working to check spread of diarrhea cases in the state. He warned stern action would be taken against the officials negligent of their duties.