Diarrhoea outbreak claims 1 more life in Odisha’s Hirakud town; death toll reaches 2

Sambalpur: Following the recent outbreak of Diarrhoea in Hirakud town of Sambalpur district, one more patient died today while undergoing treatment in a hospital here. The deceased man was identified as Judhisthir Dhurua. With this, the death toll due to the communicable disease reached two.

Judhisthir belonged to Bhojpali locality in Hirakud town of the district, an official source said.

Panic gripped the town when around 131 persons fell sick within the last four days and one of them identified as 43-year-old man Tikeswar Nayak, who belonged to Kalupada, succumbed yesterday while undergoing treatment at VIMSAR in Burla. Tikeswar had complained of diarrhoea and vomiting.

Allegedly, consumption of contaminated water led to the spread of diarrhoea in Hirakud town.

As many as 127 persons from the slum areas of Hirakud town had been hospitalised by March 21 and some of them were shifted to VIMSAR in Burla after their conditions deteriorated. The patients hailed mostly from Kalupada, Kadampada, Gurudwarpada and Gandhi Nagar. While 36 patients were admitted to the health facility on March 21, 42 were admitted on March 22 and 49 of them the next day.

Meanwhile, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan wrote to Union Health Minister Mansukh L. Mandaviya to send a Central team of doctors to bring the worsening situation under control.