The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Hospitals brim with gastro-enteritis patients

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Wednesday, May 06, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Hospitals brim with gastro-enteritis patients

Locals of Bholakpur gherao Health Minister G. Aruna at Gandhi Hospital
Police intervene and help the Minister leave the premises

HYDERABAD: Distressed parents, shocked children, harried medical staff and visiting politicians. That was the scene at Gandhi Hospital and Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases (Fever Hospital) where children with gastro-enteritis (GE) symptoms from Bholakpur area were admitted in the last two days.

At these two hospitals, a total of 133 patients were admitted from the locality which reported gastro outbreak. Having lost all energy reserves from vomits and diarrhoea, the children in shrivelled condition were brought in by crying parents. All the paediatric wards at the Gandhi were filled and in some instances two children were made to lie down on a single cot as they were attended.

Already enraged over the quality of drinking water that had brought such misery on their children, parents and relatives did not spare the hospital staff also when immediate medicare was not provided. Angry encounters between the attendants and the staff were replayed at regular intervals on Tuesday. “The security personnel are demanding Rs.5 to allow us. Is this how they behave?” shouted a parent.

When the Health Minister, G. Aruna came, she was mobbed and for sometime not allowed to leave the Gandhi Hospital. Locals from Bholakpur gathered in large numbers gheraoed her and demanded an explanation as to how their complaints on water contamination were ignored. The police had to intervene and help her to leave the premises and even as the car tried to drive away, some tried to lie down in front of the vehicle to prevent it from going.

Medical teams

“There are no deaths reported at the hospital. From the area, 133 patients have been admitted and the medical teams are handling the situation efficiently,” she told the presspersons. Representatives of women organisations too had assembled at the entrance and after arguments with the Minister indulged in slogan shouting decrying the government’s failure in supplying potable water.

Watching the saline drip put on her 18 month-old daughter, Faizunissa said, “I am unable to bear the suffering of my child Muskan. She had been vomiting since last evening”. Munawar Chand was furious, “look what the water works department have done to our children. Instead of playing in holidays, they are lying in the hospital”.

Gandhi Hospital Superintendent Narasimha Rao said they had taken in 62 children under care and the symptoms were typical of GE. The samples were sent to the Institute of Preventive Medicine and a report was expected in 24 hours. “We have five wards for intensive care and one more with 20 cots has been readied as a reserve. Doctors and staff are here and there is no shortage of drugs or fluids and we are handling the situation effectively,” he said while describing condition of all children admitted as stable.

The Fever Hospital superintendent P. Prasad said 71 patients were admitted from the affected area and that all were being attended and that required drug and saline stocks were available.

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