Central team meets jaundice patients at Harraipur

Sameer Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 21

Following a jaundice outbreak in Bathinda, a team of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), a wing of the Union Health Ministry and state Health Department, inspected Harraipur village on Saturday. Team members took stock of the situation at the grassroots level and interacted with jaundice patients during their door-to-door visit.

Notably, after the jaundice outbreak in two villages in the district, as many as 165 patients had tested positive for jaundice. Besides, more than 450 suspected cases were also reported. A youngster in his 20s had allegedly died due to jaundice in Harraipur village last week.

Dr Hema Gogia, Assistant Director, NCDC, Delhi; Dr Hemlata, Assistant Director, NCDC, Delhi; Dr Monica Vashist, state microbiologist; and Dr Shalu, technical officer, hepatitis, Chandigarh, visited the village.

Deputy Commissioner B Srinivasan, Civil Surgeon Dr Amrik Singh Sandu, officials of the Health Department and Water and Sanitation Department were also present at the village.

The NCDC team inspected waterworks of Goniana Kalan as water is supplied to the village from here. Later, the Senior Medical Officer of the area briefed them on the measures being taken by the Health Department to contain the outbreak.

Thereafter, the officials visited a pond, which has not been cleaned for a long time.

Later, they met jaundice patients and asked them about their health and treatment. A meeting was underway between representatives of different departments and NCDC officials till the filing of the report.

The NCDC officials said they had just visited the village to take stock of the situation and they could not comment further on the matter as of now. They said on Sunday, the team would visit Rama village.

Meanwhile, residents of the village said many people had visited private hospitals for screening and treatment. A few of them said they had been given ORS and chlorine tablets by the Health Department.

Jagmeet Singh, sarpanch of the village, said, “We have been putting forward the demand for the fencing of the pond for a long time, but to no avail. We have also been demanding a new waterworks in our village. We want a through probe into the matter and after fixing the responsibility, the officials responsible for causing the jaundice outbreak must be terminated.”