At least 200 people have been taken ill due to sudden outbreak of gastroenteritis at Reshipora and Shahpora villages in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district.
The disease outbreak has triggered panic in the entire area and scores of people including women and children have been admitted to district hospital Ganderbal in past couple of days after they complained of diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
“The disease is spreading like an epidemic. More than 200 people are suffering the disease” the locals said. The outbreak of the disease is being attributed to “contaminated drinking water” supplied by the PHE department in the areas.
“We are being supplied the water by the department through a reservoir which is without cover. Even the animals at spotted at times near the source from which the water comes to us,” Ishfaq Ahmed, a local said. “We have requested the department a number of times to properly cover and chlorinate the water but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears,” the residents complained.
Meanwhile, a team of doctors headed by BMO Ganderbal Dr Mihammad Amin visited the affected village to ascertain the position. “We found around 175 patients suffering from gastroenteritis. We provided them all the necessary medical assistance,” he said, adding that out of the screened patients, 75 were referred to district hospital Ganderbal for further treatment.
Meanwhile, a surveillance team of health department has collected samples of water to ascertain its quality. Executive engineer PHE Ganderbal Nazir Ahmed Dar didn’t respond to repeated phone calls by this newspaper.