More than a hundred persons have been affected by jaundice in and around Puri town, according to reports. While till Wednesday 85 persons were found afflicted with jaundice, six more from the city and 15 from the Sadar area were reported for the disease on Wednesday. Though the water-borne disease had claimed two lives in March and scores are still being treated, the department has not taken it seriously, alleged some locals.
Of late, 120 water samples from various water bodies had been sent to the State Water Testing laboratory at Bhubaneswar. The report received on Thursday revealed that 54 samples were unsafe with high level Coliform contents.
Public Health Director Kailash Das had visited the city and held discussions with officials on the situation. He too inspected the facilities available in the DHQ for jaundice patients. He expressed dissatisfaction over treatment being administered to the jaundice patients at the DHQ. He found there was no separate ward for jaundice patients and free medicines were not being given.
When contacted, CDMO Gyanendra Sahu said steps have been taken to prevent the spread of the disease and special provisions made for treatment of jaundice patients at the DHQ.