Srinagar, Sept 4: While Kashmir Valley was in the middle of unrest over killings by police and paramilitary CRPF, seven persons died in central Kashmir’s Budgam district after the outbreak of cholera last month. To ascertain the actual number of deaths, the health authorities have now launched massive door-to-door campaign in the district.

 “Three patients were clear cut cases of gastroenteritis. One patient was brought to Soibugh hospital in a state of shock while two other patients aging more than 50, also from Budgam died in SMHS hospital. All the three patients were suffering from acute gastroenteritis which had led to their renal failure causing death,” the Chief Medical Officer, Budgam, Dr Abdullah told Greater Kashmir.

 A senior official in the health department also confirmed that two deaths due to gastroenteritis had been reported from SMHS hospital here.

 However, the CMO said in the remaining four cases it cannot be said that the deceased were suffering from cholera or gastroenteritis. “They died at home and had never availed the medical facility at hospitals. We can’t rule out that the patients might have been suffering from gastroenteritis but it can’t be said categorically that they died of the infectious diseases,” the CMO said. 

 For ascertaining their cause of death, he said the only way out was to conduct the post-mortem of the bodies. 

 The Director Health, Muhammad Amin Wani said he had information only about four deaths that had taken place at homes in Budgam, and one death in Soibugh hospital.

 “Two of these four persons were above 80 years and third one was a pregnant woman,” he said.

 More than 100 cases of cholera and over 2300 cases of gastroenteritis were reported and treated on Budgam, which was the epicenter of the disease and the worst hit district in Kashmir apart from Kupwara and Bandipore were more than 150 cases each of gastroenteritis and mixed infections were treated at hospitals. 

 As the authorities struggle to completely control the epidemic in Budgam, the health department has now launched campaign to spread awareness about the measures needed to be taken to prevent spread of disease and more importantly to get the “exact details” about the deaths that have taken place in the district and their causes.

 “Yes we have started a door-to-door survey to know if any death had taken place (in past one month after the outbreak of cholera). More importantly our 26 medical teams are moving from village to village to educate people,” said Dr Abdullah.

 The Director health said he had already directed the district health authorities to visit the houses of the four deceased persons and collect information about them.

 Doctors apprehend the death toll could be much higher as patients couldn’t have been able to reach hospitals due to prevailing unrest in the Valley. “The state government should set a separate team to know about the situation that had emerged after the outbreak of the cholera in the district,” said a doctor.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 4 Sep 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 4 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 5 Sep 2010 00:00:00 IST