Malkangiri, Oct 3: On late Sunday night two more children named Basanti Madakami of Koimetalai and Rupa Padiami of Kasalbedal died of Japanese Encephalitis in Malkangiri district.
They took their last breath while undergoing treatment at the Malkangiri district headquarters hospital (DHH). With this, the death toll due to this vector-borne disease in the past 25 days has reached to 26. There are many more children who are being treated out of which five to six of them are stated to be critical. Though medical teams have been camping in the affected areas to treat ailing children, the disease is still spreading in the district.
It’s stated that an expert team would be heading to the affected villages to note the condition there. Besides, Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Secretary Arti Ahuja are likely to visit the affected areas today.
Talking to media persons, the Minister said in the first phase, a team had been sent to the affected area to take stock of the situation. Another expert team was sent to the villages on Sunday. They would stay there for 10 days and plan treatment and other preventive measures needed to be taken to tackle the situation.
