More Kolkata areas affected by diarrhoea

Residents claim outbreak due to contamination of the drinking water supplied by KMC

For safe water: BJYM activists protest in front of the Municipal Corporation in Kolkata on Tuesday against the supply of contaminated water in various place of the city.

More areas in Kolkata have came under the outbreak of diarrhoea with people from the adjoining areas of Jadavpur, like Dhakuria and Haltu, reporting symptoms of the disease on Tuesday.

According to the State Health Department, the outbreak has affected more than 1,000 people so far. At least 10 wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the southern and eastern parts of the city have been affected.

42 hospitalised

“ About 1,150 people have been affected [with diarrhoea] and 42 have been hospitalised so far,” State Director of Health Services Ajoy Chakraborty told The Hindu .

Dr. Chakraborty said the Health Department has approached the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine for testing of water samples from the affected areas and the report was awaited.

The outbreak, which the locals claim is due to contamination of the drinking water supplied by the KMC, came to light on February 9. Initially, those suffering from stomach ailments were admitted to the Baghajatin State General Hospital. When the hospital could not accommodate any more patients, many were referred to the Belieaghata Infectious Diseases Hospital in central Kolkata.

“So far, 33 diarrhoea patients have come here and 18 have been admitted. All of them have been referred from other hospitals. Their condition is stable,” said U.K. Bhadra, principal of the hospital.

The situation has spread panic among residents of the affected areas who are left with no choice but to buy packaged drinking water at twice the price. “We have no choice but to buy packaged drinking water at exorbitant prices. My entire family has fallen ill,” said a resident of Dhakuria.

As for the reason behind the outbreak, the Health Department and the KMC have made contradictory statements. While Dr. Chakraborty said such an outbreak of diarrhoea cannot take place without contamination of the drinking water, the Mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee earlier claimed that the drinking water supplied by the KMC was safe.

‘Common source’

“Without water related issues such things [diarrhoea outbreak] are unlikely to happen. This is happening due to a common source of infection,” said Dr. Chakraborty.

However, he also argued that it was because of the “efficiency of our healthcare system” that no deaths have taken place despite the severity of the outbreak.