Diarrhoea-vomiting-dehydration deaths spur health dept into overdrive

ALLAHABAD: Two kids Chotu (7) and Deepak (8) falling prey to diarrhoea-vomiting-dehydration (DVD) in Manda village has set alarm bells ringing in the health department and the district administration. A team that visited the site blamed water consumption from open wells for the outbreak of the disease.
Currently, 13 patients are undergoing treatment at Manda community health centre (CHC) for DVD symptoms.Chief medical officer, Allahabad, Dr Padmakar Singh told TOI: "Lack of public awareness about the status of water led to the outbreak. Villagers continued to draw water from open wells even in monsoon."
On Wednesday, teams from epidemic cell undertook chlorination of 12 wells of the villages. Besides, door-to-door distribution of chlorine tablets was also undertaken. "We also undertook an awareness programme to brief villagers about importance of hygiene," said the CMO. In fact, health teams were shocked to know that most of the villagers were not in the habit of washing hands before consuming eatables or food,
Village pradhan Mahesh Shukla told health officials that the village had a population of 900. Open wells (12) were the main source of potable water as there were only three hand pumps.
Meanwhile, epidemic teams, comprising medical and para medical staff, have been activated at all primary and community health centres. An official said, "We have chlorinated all open wells and asked villagers to follow a set of directives to check spread of diseases".
Villagers meanwhile alleged that despite repeated requests, district authorities have failed to install hand pumps in the village.