Diarrhoea outbreak leave two dead, hundreds sick in Patiala village

PATIALA: Diarrhoea outbreak in Bathonian Khurd village in Rajpura block of the district has claimed two lives leaving hundreds ill in the last three days.
Following the reports of the outbreak the district health department constituted special teams that have been stationed in the village to provide timely treatment to the patients.
The disease that gripped the village on Saturday had so far claimed the lives of 18-year-old Preeti, who died on Saturday and 30-years-old Satwinder Singh died on Sunday.
According to the sarpanch, a number of villagers started complaining of loose motions and vomiting on Saturday and soon the condition of Preeti deteriorated and proved fatal for her. The next day while more number of cases were reported, Satwinder Singh also died sounding alarm bells. He said they immediately reported the matter to the authorities following which health teams arrived in the village
Civil surgeon, Harish Malhotra said that soon after being informed about the outbreak, health teams were rushed to the village that have so far confirmed 124 case of gastroenteritis. He said while there were 92 cases reported on Sunday, the number case down to 32 on Monday suggesting that the situation was improving in the village. He said the bodies of the two persons who died in the village had been shifted to the government Rajindra Hospital for post mortem examination that had been performed and they are waiting for the final reports.
He said that the health department has already stalled all water supplies in the village and directed the residents to use only boiled water besides making arrangements for the potable water through tankers. Besides, 6700 chlorine tablets and 862 ORS packets had already been distributed in the village.
While most of the patients who had not been showing acute symptoms of the disease have been given medication and asked to rest at home, those taken to the government hospitals complained of non-availability of the doctors due to their strike.
Civil Surgeon said that the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Rajpura had been informed about the outbreak and the civic authorities have been asked to cut the illegal water connections in the villages which could have led to the contamination of the water in the entire area.