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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Pledge that went in vain by Jaideep Deogharia

Pledge that went in vain by Jaideep Deogharia

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published Published on Jun 5, 2011   modified Modified on Jun 5, 2011

The strict guidelines that every civil surgeon was supposed to follow to ensure zero diarrhoea deaths in the state issued on April 30 were ignored and a no-compliance report was sent to the state office of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

The instruction list that ended with a pledge let us all take this resolution that there will be no diarrhoea deaths in our state in the days to come went in vain as it was treated as any other government circular, suited to be stacked away in files and forgotten.

The 10-point guideline covered all aspects of alertness and activities.

NRHM state director Aradhna Patnaik admitted that the April 30 directive was ignored by civil surgeons. Though the NRHM office tried to pre-empt the outbreak of the disease, it failed to do so because of climatic conditions and the lackadaisical approach of the district health administration.

Patnaik said this year, there was rainfall at regular intervals since the onset of summer leading to a hot and humid climate. As a result, the disease, which usually spreads during monsoon, started affecting people earlier. "The situation is under control now as medical teams have been rushed to all districts to ensure that the disease does not assume epidemic proportions," she said.

Diarrhoea broke out in different pockets of the state and no initiative was taken till the end of May to create awareness among the people or to make medicines available. It was after the media started reporting on the rising cases of diarrhoea that the municipal corporation and municipality offices swung into action.

Medical teams were sent with stocks of ORS and saline but prior to these arrangements a large number of patients were treated under trees with limited medical aid.

The first phase of sprinkling of bleaching powder scheduled for the last week of May was not carried

out in most of the places. Neither were the villagers told about the risks involved in drinking water from "chunwa" (surface water taken from river beds).

The instruction of reaching ORS packets to anganwadi sevikas, ANM and medicine distributors in advance was also not followed. It's only now that the directives are being followed and being monitored on a day to day basis by the mission directorate.

Former national vice president of the Indian Medical Association, Ajay Kumar Singh, expressed concern over the situation that is likely to arise after the monsoon. "The concentration of bacterial flora in water bodies has increased and once the rains occur the germs will be transported from one place to another infecting other water sources," he said.

He also blamed the rural food habit, largely dependent on fruits during summer, for increasing the incidence of diarrhoea. "More mango harvest means more ailments because rural people use it as staple food and are unable to digest it because the human body is not meant to digest fruits alone," he said.

Suggesting use of chemical disinfectants to purify water, Singh said boiling water before consumption and washing hands before every meal must be practised. "Filtering water through 10 layers of cotton cloth can also make water bacteria-free," he said.

The Times of India, 4 June, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/Pledge-that-went-in-vain/articleshow/8716584.cms


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