Jaundice claimed two more lives in Sambalpur in last three days, taking the toll to 22. However, the Government still pets the number at 20. The diseased were identified as Ganesh Chandra Behera (48) and Salima Khatun (65).
Ganesh, who expired on Tuesday night, was a Reserve Police Constable stationed at Sambalpur. He had been suffering from the disease for the past 20 days and was under treatment in a local nursing home. He was shifted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar with a deteriorating condition, but couldn’t survive.
Salima, who died on Wednesday morning, belongs to Sunapali. She was under treatment at the District Headquarters Hospital and was shifted to the Burla Medical College Hospital when her condition deteriorated. She had returned home three days back, but breathed her last at her home.
On Wednesday, 11 new persons were identified with jaundice in Government and private hospitals here. This takes the number of victims identified so far to 2751. So far, 1749 patients have been identified in district headquarters hospital, 970 in private hospitals and 32 in the VSS Medical College Hospital in Burla.
The Government has taken steps to test samples from water supply units in the Sambalpur suburbs following the spread of the disease. The samples collected from eight places of Maneswar and two places of Themra have been sent for test, sources said.