The Hindu : Karnataka / Mysore News : Poor sanitation cause for outbreak of epidemic, says NGO

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 31, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Poor sanitation cause for outbreak of epidemic, says NGO

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, JULY 30. The Dr. Ajay Memorial Drinking Water Foundation today said that the "reckless" sanitary practices of the Mysore City Corporation, which laid fragile drinking water pipelines across open sewers, was the main reason for the outbreak of gastroenteritis and diarrhoea during the rainy season in the city.

Speaking to reporters after conducting an elaborate investigation of the outbreak of gastroenteritis and diarrhoea in Bogadi area of the city, the president of the Foundation, A. Ramalingam, said that their inquiry had revealed leaks in drinking water pipelines, mostly made of brittle PVC material, at six points in the residential locality.

Water pipelines

The drinking water pipelines were found passing through open storm-water drains into which not only garbage had been dumped, but also sewage containing faecal matter had been let, Dr. Ramalingam said, releasing tell-tale pictures of the state of sanitation in the area.

During the rainy season, the storm-water drains overflowed, leading to drainage mixing with drinking water through the leaks in the drinking water pipelines. The consumption of contaminated drinking water had led to widespread incidence of gastroenteritis and diarrhoea, he said.

"A drinking water PVC pipe laid across a storm-water drain-cum-sewage canal on the 12th Cross of Janata Nagar was submerged by overflowing drainage after heavy rain. A closer look at the drinking water pipeline after the water level receded showed that the pipeline had developed a crack, which had been sloppily covered by a rubber tube," Dr. Ramalingam said.

Survey

It may be mentioned here that the survey conducted by the Foundation during the last two weeks revealed that almost a hundred residents of Bogadi area had been afflicted by either gastroenteritis or diarrhoea. The Foundation even attributed the death of a 75-year-old person in the area to gastroenteritis.

Dr. Ramalingam claimed that an independent inquiry conducted into the outbreak of the epidemic in the residential locality by an expert in communicable diseases, Chandrashekar of K.R. Hospital, had found 127 cases of gastroenteritis.

14 new cases

Criticising the Mysore City Corporation for its refusal to acknowledge the magnitude of the epidemic in the locality, Dr. Ramalingam said a fresh study by the Foundation revealed 14 more cases last week, most of them suffering from amoebic dysentery. The outbreak was first noticed on July 9 after the city experienced heavy rain. "It is continuing to spread," he said.

Dr. Ramalingam appealed to the health officials to provide medical attention to all the affected persons. "They should be kept in the isolation hospital and treated properly."

Checking epidemic

With the disease showing signs of spreading, the Corporation authorities should also take urgent measures to arrest its spread by scattering bleaching powder in the area and inoculating the residents. "This work should be carried out on a war footing," he said. Also, the residents should be advised to drink water only after boiling and cooling it.

The civic authorities should take adequate measures to ensure that the drinking water pipelines did not pass through drainage. "According to guidelines, the drinking water pipelines should be at a distance of at least six feet," he said.

Heavy rain leads to flooding in the low-lying areas of the locality. With the capacity of the open storm-water drains insufficient to hold the water, flooding of homes in low-lying areas becomes inevitable, Dr. Ramalingam said.

"The water flooding the homes will invariably contain sewage also," he added.

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