With jaundice assuming alarming proportions in Sambalpur, the Government on Monday announced that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Chief Secretary Gokul Chandra Pati would visit the city on Wednesday to take stock of the situation there.
The decision was announced after Pati reviewed the situation with Health Secretary Arti Ahuja and other officials of the department. With two more jaundice deaths reported on Sunday, the toll in Sambalpur has now mounted to 21 with no signs of abatement of the disease despite the Government’s repeated claim of bringing its spread under control. The situation remains grim with four deaths reported in the last two days.
While one Raju Swain of the Fishery Bandh locality died, Atmaram Surujal of Anlapalli under Dhamma panchayat also died on Sunday while undergoing treatment at the Sambalpur District Headquarters Hospital. However, the official death toll stands at 17. The number of those afflicted with the disease is growing by the day.
The district administration is plugging and renovating water supply pipelines and cleaning drains. Super chlorination of the town’s drinking water supply system has been undertaken and halogen tablets are being distributed free to the residents in the affected areas. With patients pouring in, beds in the hospitals are filled up and patients are forced to sleep on the corridors of the hospitals to avail in-patient treatment.
Sambalpur ADMO Dr Ashok Dash, ADMO said jaundice virus takes some days for incubation in the human body and symptoms may show only after some days of affliction. So, to cope with the situation it would take another 15-20 days even if the spread of the disease has been brought under control.