Mysterious death of kids: PGI experts visit Udhampur

JAMMU:: An eight-member medical team of experts from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, visited Ramnagar in Udhampur where 11 children had died due to an unknown disease in the last month.

“A team of experts from Chandigarh arrived in Jammu in the evening before heading to Ramnagar and met with the Jammu director health services Renu Sharma,” a health department official said. Four of the seven children who have fallen ill due to the mysterious disease are getting treatment at the PGIMER, Chandigarh.

The team met with the siblings and those in contact with the children being treated at the hospital. It is learnt the team has also collected blood and urine samples of the siblings, besides samples of potable water being supplied in households of the area.

The PGIMER team is preparing a report on the diagnosis and treatment of the unwell children and then compare it with the samples of the children under treatment in the PGIMER. It will submit a report to the directorate general of health services (DGHS).

Last week, a team of medical experts from the National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi and NIV Pune also visited Ramnagar, Udhampur and Jammu. They will also be submitting their report to the DGHS in a few days.

One of the two children getting treatment in SMGS, Jammu died due renal failure on January 25. The children, upon contracting the disease develop symptoms of fever, cold and nausea. The disease ultimately led to renal failure.

There are around 10 to 15 villages in a radius of 30 km in Ramnagar tehsil where the children had fallen ill to this undiagnosed disease.

Meanwhile, activists of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers party staged a protest outside the directorate of health services, Jammu, against the alleged failure of the health department to take prompt action to prevent the mysterious infant deaths in Ramnagar.

THE 8-MEMBER TEAM MET SIBLINGS AND THOSE IN CONTACT WITH THE CHILDREN BEING TREATED AT THE CHANDIGARH-BASED HOSPITAL