3-member medical team from Delhi reaches Udhampur
Team collects samples from around 25 chemist shops, two more experts expected to reach today
CHILDREN CONTRACTING THE DISEASE DEVELOP SYMPTOMS OF FEVER, COLD, THEY ALSO VOMIT EVENTUALLY LEADING TO RENAL FAILURE
JAMMU: After 10 children died of an unknown disease in a span of 15 days in Ramnagar tehsil of Udhampur district, three members, part of a high-level team of experts from health ministry in Delhi, reached Udhampur on Sunday.
Udhampur deputy magistrate Dr Piyush Singla said, “Three members of the team from Delhi reached Udhampur today. They have started taking inputs from state and district level health teams, which are camping in the affected villages of Ramnagar tehsil.” Dr Singla said that remaining two members of the team will reach Udhampur on Monday.Union ministry of health and family welfare on Saturday said that it would send a high level team to J&K to investigate pediatric deaths.The team will assist J&K health department to investigate the cause of pediatric deaths and institute requisite public 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.
The visiting team comprises Dr Sumit Mehndiratta, specialist (pediatrics), Safdarujing Hospital; Dr Mahesh Waghmare, deputy director (microbiology), National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi; Dr Suneet Kaur, assistant director( epidemiology) National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi; Dr Shilpa Tomar, microbiologist, NIV, Pune and Dr Avinash Deoshatwar, epidemiologistNIV- Pune.
The three members of the team on Sunday collected samples from over 25 chemist shops from where the children were given medicines and injections. 10 children, who belonged to over a dozen villages in a radius of over 30 kms in Ramnagar, were either attended by local quacks or medical assistants,” said an official.
Chief medical officer of Udhamur district, Dr KC Dogra said, “10 children between the age group of two months to six years have died in the past over a fortnight and six have taken ill.”
“Out of six ill children, four have been hospitalised in PGI Chandigarh, one each in Ludhiana and SMGS Hospital in Jammu,” 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 a radius of 30 kms in Ramnagar tehsil where the children are getting ill to this undiagnosed disease,” he added.