Ludhiana, July 28
The Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) is observing ORS week from July 25-31. The district branch of the IAP is making all efforts to educate public in this regard. ORS leaflets and pamphlets are being distributed free of cost to patients and public. The leaflets have been placed at all main hospitals, clinics and nursing homes by members of the IAP.
Dr S.S. Bedi, president of the local unit of the IAP, said diarrhoea was one of the main killer diseases of children under five years of age in India and other less developed countries.
About five lakh children died of diarrhoea/dehydration every year in India alone. Out of total hospitals’ admissions of children, diarrhoea accounted for 32 per cent and out of the total hospital deaths of admitted children, 20 per cent deaths were because of diarrhoea.
He said every year, in the summer months and rainy season, diarrhoea struck in an alarming way and most affected were lower socio-economic group of people and migrant population, resulting in financial loss and problems for already less privileged class of society.
Poor sanitation, unhygienic surroundings, overcrowded houses and colonies, contaminated water supply, poverty, ignorance and myths, all contributed towards the start and spread of diarrhoea year after year.
The president stressed that in Ludhiana, situation was worse because of the large population of migrant labour who lived in unhygienic conditions.
Open drains, water-logged streets, garbage lying on roads, rehriwalas selling cut fruit and other eatables on the roadside with flies and filth around helped in the spread of the disease.
