Cuttack, March 30: The number of jaundice patients has gone up to 44 in the Millennium city here after four persons of Jobra area were tested positive on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the district administration has confirmed that the outbreak of the disease is due to contaminated water.
Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Prafulla Kumar Behera said the Health department has stepped up intensive awareness campaign.
“Leaflets have been given to the health workers of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Anganwadi workers to distribute among the people and advice them to take preventive measures like drinking boiled water and ORS. Besides, halogen tablets have been distributed to the people to disinfect the water”, he added.
He also informed that of the 12 water samples given to the State Pathology Lab, reports on five samples have come of which two samples have been found contaminated.
The CDMO said as per the test report, the presence of jaundice virus in the water is not alarming.
“We have found the presence of Hapatitis-A and E which can be cured if a person takes minimum precaution like not moving out under the sun, taking boiled water and ORS in regular intervals,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, a BJP team led by Nayan Mohanty Tuesday visited the affected areas in Jobra and interacted with the people.
Mohanty told newsmen that last year, the spread of jaundice in the city was from Jobra area and this year the disease has again spread from this area to other part of the city.
“After visiting several places in the city, it is now clear that the situation has become acute in the city. Besides, there are reports on outbreak of diarrhoea in Khan Nagar area,” he informed.
He said the sanitary condition in the city is in a shambles as the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) is defunct. “Moreover, it seems that the Public Health department has no responsibility,” he observed.
Mohanty said last year, the local BJD MLA had assured the people that he would take necessary steps to replace the old pipelines with new pipelines. The local MLA, during his visit to Jobra area a couple of days ago, had told the people that some old pipelines have been replaced.
“What I have found in this area that there is no replacement of a single old pipeline. I suspect that like tender fixing, there might be false billing in the Public Health department which requires a judicial probe,” he pointed out.
A delegation of city Congress submitted a memorandum to district collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra and urged him to take urgent steps to bring down the incidence of jaundice in the city.
