Ludhiana,
October 5
The administration seems to have learnt no lesson from the
recent outbreak of gastroenteritis and other water-borne diseases that
had afflicted hundreds of people in different colonies.
Even after a
widespread outbreak of gastroenteritis and reports of at least 10 dengue
patients from different areas in the city, no mechanism is in place to
maintain sanitation and check mosquito breeding.
In the wake of dismal
state of affairs prevailing at present, it will not be an exaggeration
to state that the city population is sitting on a powder keg which is
bound to explode, sooner or later, engulfing the residents into variety
of infectious diseases.
Going across the length and breadth of the
industrial capital of the state, one can see heaps of garbage almost
everywhere. Regular sweeping and removal of garbage is a rare activity.
Cut fruits and poor quality of soft drinks are being sold with impunity
in gross violation of the prohibitory orders. Stagnating rainwater or
overflowing sewer lines provide breeding ground to house flies and
mosquitoes.
To make the matters worse, the quality of drinking water
being supplied in most parts of the city leaves much to be desired.
Contrary to the claims made by the administration, the water samples
taken from different areas in the city have persistently failed to pass
chlorination tests or microbiological analysis.
Other preventive
measures against diseases like fumigation, DDT spray or pouring kerosene
over stagnating water are carried out in a selective manner and the
localities prone to outbreak of diseases are, more often than not, left
out in such operations.
That the threat of water-borne diseases looms
large over the city residents is evident from the information gathered
from sources in the Health Department here which revealed that during
past two weeks 10 cases of dengue have been reported.
Till the end of
September, 2005, as many as 241 malaria cases had been reported, while a
little more than 5,000 persons had fallen victim to diarrhoea and
another 700 odd to gastroenteritis during that period.
To make the
matters worse, the infrastructure, both for preventive and therapeutic
measures, against malaria and dengue is in a state of total collapse.
The fumigation machines available with the Health Department were lying
non-functional for various reasons, the serology laboratory at the Civil
Hospital did not have the required test kits and the blood components
separating machine for separation of platelets, a crucial requirement
for management of dengue, was also lying in a state of disrepair.
The
knee-jerk reaction of the authorities, whenever an epidemic-like
situation arises, is both short-lived.
