MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS KILLS 10 KIDS IN J&K
A team of medical experts from Delhi to visit affected area today; of six ill, four undergoing treatment at PGI Chandigarh
After 10 children died of an unknown disease in 15 days in J&K’s Udhampur district, experts from the health ministry will reach the area on Sunday to investigate.
› There are around 10 to 15 villages in the 30km radius of Ramnagar tehsil, where the children have shown the symptoms and fallen ill to this undiagnosed disease.
DR KC DOGRA, Udhamur chief medical officer (CMO)
JAMMU : As many as 10 children had died due to an unknown disease in the past 15 days at Ramnagar tehsil of Udhampur district.
A high-level team of experts from health ministry in Delhi will visit the affected villages on Sunday to explore the cause and suggest remedies, said Udhamur chief medical officer (CMO) Dr KC Dogra.
The team will assist J&K health department to diagnose the cause of pediatric deaths and instituting requisite health measures. The team, upon completion of their activities, will submit a report to Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of health and family welfare.
Dr Dogra said, “10 children in the age group of two months to six years have died in the fortnight and six others have taken ill.”
Those died are Shreyansh, son of Madan Lal of Kella village; Kanish Dogra, son of Sushil Kumar of Jindrari village; Anirudh, son of Ashok Kumar of Dhanvalat village; Akshu, son of Sanju of Sunetar village; Janvi,
daughter of Anil Kumar of Gandiyan village; Surbhi, daughter of Govind Ram of Marta village; Lakshmi, daughter of Raj Kumar of Dhiren village; Panku, son of Ramesh of Marta village; Amit, son of Rattan Chand of Kogarmarh village and Baby of Nagrota Panjgrain village.
“Out of the six children, four have been hospitalised in PGI Chandigarh, one each in Ludhiana and SMGS Hospital in Jammu. It is a matter of serious concern. We have issued an advisory asking people not to panic and rush their children to the nearest hospital in wake of unusual symptoms,” he said.
The CMO informed that the children contracting the disease develop symptoms of fever, cold and they also vomit eventually leading to their renal failure.
“There are around 10 to 15 villages in the 30km radius of Ramnagar tehsil, where the children have shown these symptoms and fallen ill to this undiagnosed disease,” he added. He said many teams of doctors from Jammu, Udhampur and block level were camping in the affected area to ascertain the cause of the death.
“Even the doctors at PGI Chandigarh, who conducted autopsy of one such child from Ramnagar, have not reached any conclusion yet. We have taken samples of water, drugs given to the children by local quacks and food etc,” Dr Dogra said. He informed that doctors at the PGI who are treating four such children and are conducing intensive diagnosis to identify the disease.
Udhampur district development commissioner Piyush Singla had directed the public health engineering department to collect samples of water for test and to ensure safe drinking water is provided to the public.