Karnataka   

An entire village is down with chikungunya

STRICKEN: A view of Chikkakadlur village in Hassan taluk.

HASSAN: Radhamma, Lakshme Gowda, Javare Gowda and Thimme Gowda were the first to get chikungunya in Chikkakadalur village, 10 km from Hassan.

On Thursday, Radhamma appealed not to take photographs as people would stop visiting the village for the fear of getting chikungunya. The village has a population of 1,500 and there are about 400 houses. The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture.

First, it started with fever, headache and pain in the joints. They thought it as ordinary fever. Within 12 hours, they were unable to move their legs. The disease spread to the entire village within a week.

When contacted, District Health Officer Nagaraja Rao said that 406 cases were reported from the village of which nine turned out to be positive. They have sent blood samples and in some cases, they are yet to receive the report. Now, the incidence is under control.

But things are not as rosy as the officer’s claim. The villagers told The Hindu that they are suffering from this disease for the past month. In the beginning, doctors from nearby primary health centres visited the village and gave treatment but now they too have stopped coming.

There is no hospital in the village. They have to go to the Government Hospital in Koravangala, 1.5 km from the village.

People have to take patients either in a tractor or a bullock cart. However, there is shortage of doctors in the hospital.

The Dudda Primary Health Centre is about 5 km away but villagers do not go there because there are no doctors and drugs.

A resident C.B. Prasad said the village is in Dudda hobli under the Gandsi Assembly Constituency. The former Congress Minister, B. Shivaram, represents this constituency. He has never visited the village. So also the zilla panchayat member Sunandamma.

The villagers said that if the health authorities had taken preventive measures when the disease broke, it would not have spread to other villages in Dudda hobli.

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