Jamshedpur : Four people including three children have died due to deadly malaria in Odisai village under Kotgarh panchayat of Noamundi block in West Singhbhum district, official sources said today.
Tikaram (1) died yesterday while Chandmuni (7) and Sado Kerai lost their lives earlier this week and another person lost battle to the deadly decease even earlier.Confirming the deaths Deputy Commissioner Abu Baquar Siddiqui said that he has sent a medical team to the village for thorough check up of all the villagers. �If anybody is found with the symptoms of Malaria he would immediately be brought to Chaibasa referral hospital,� he said.
Meanwhile, local Loksabha MP and former chief minister Madhu Koda also visited the village today and claimed that dozens of other were still suffering from Malaria there. He urged the district administration to take immediate measures to stop any further casualty.The villagers said that though the district health department took initiative to curb the menace but again the disease has shot up making the life difficult for the people Dr. T C Mohanty said that the villagers do not give importance to medical care but rely on quacks do which the situation have worsen.
He added that the facilities to meet the diarrhea and malaria outbreak are also not enough in the area.Consumption of contaminated water may also be the reason behind the sudden rise of the patients in area.Manoj Hansda, a villager said that their the administration lacks will to work in the tribal areas due to which the situation is far from safe.
�I think immediate steps need to be taken to control the menace. The health department needs to spread awareness in the villages and necessary medicines should be distributed.In the last three days, nearly two dozen cases of malaria and diarrhoea have been reported in different hospitals, private and public, literally putting pressure on the health machinery to come out with effective preventive measures.
“Along with bleaching, DTT power and anti-larvicidal spraying, we are also carrying out fogging in the affected area,” said district malaria officer.The densely populated slums in all the three notified areas of Jamshedpur, Mango and Jugsalai in the Dhalbhum subdivision are the worst affected areas. The clogged drains in the said localities which were identified for cleaning several weeks ago are proving to be safe breeding ground for the mosquitoes.
“The action plan chalked out by the subdivisional officer in April this year probably failed to take off otherwise, the clogged drains in the slums would have been cleaned by now,” claimed a functionary of the Occupational Safety and Health Association of Jharkhand.