The fear of an epidemic outbreak in flood-ravaged
areas of Uttarakhand may be turning into reality as hundreds of people from
local villages reported to medical camps set up by the forces complaining of
fever, diarrhoea and vomiting. At least 128 people reported high temperature
and gastro-intestinal infections in Ramnagar — a tiny village near Guptkashi in
Kedarnath valley — through Monday and Tuesday. Three ITBP men engaged in rescue
work in Kedarnath have also reported sick.
Authorities are now suspecting contamination of
water resources in the area due to hundreds of decaying bodies spread across
the valley.
Although medical camps set up by ITBP, NDRF and
armed forces are already helping victims with medicines, the Centre is sending
a high-level team comprising doctors and specialists to Uttarakhand to review
public health measures.
Though the situation is not being seen by the
government as alarming as no outbreak of water/air borne or direct contact
diseases has been reported so far, cases of diarrhoea in areas such as Alwalpur
(Haridwar), Udvi (Uuttakashi) and Chandrapuri (Rudraprayag) have been brought
to the notice of local medical support teams. The government, however, claims
to have managed them at "incipient stage" after picking up early
warning signals.
The situation in Kedarnath is worrisome. "In
the past two days alone, 128 people have reported water-borne diseases from one
small village in Guptkashi. It seems the water in the area has been
contaminated," an NDRF official told TOI.
Most of the victims are local villagers who
depend on natural springs for drinking water. "There are so many bodies
across the Kedarnath valley that it is not surprising that their decay is
causing contamination of water. It needs to be contained now or we could have a
bigger problem at hand," an ITBP official said.
To stem the contamination, forces are not only
helping willing villagers to leave the valley even as government is rushing in
medicines and chlorine tablets but NDRF is also assisting in mass cremation.
"We have sent a team with specialized equipment such as cutters and
pulleys to help state authorities extricate bodies from under the debris and
cremate them," NDRF IG Sandeep Rai Rathore said.
Speaking of health concerns in affected areas, a
home ministry official said, "Three central public health teams are
already there. They have been coordinating with doctors and taking all required
measures to prevent outbreak of any disease in a situation which is certainly
quite vulnerable."
He said district units of Integrated Disease
Surveillance Programme (IDSP) were conducting health surveillance in all
affected districts. Eight additional teams were kept on standby, ready to move
to the affected areas at short notice, he added.
Besides, a specialist from National Vector Borne
Disease Control Programme has been placed with the state government for
providing assistance on matters pertaining to vector borne diseases. Three
teams for providing psycho-social support have been arranged from NIMHANS,
Bangalore.
"Over 10,00,000 chlorine tablets are being
procured by the ministry of health for the flood-hit areas in
Uttarakhand", said the official.
