One more dies of diarrhea, toll 4 in Doda
Number of affected still swelling
SHEVALI RAINA/SAIDULLAH RANGREZ
JAMMU/DODA: As one more patient died in the district hospital Doda today, the total number of deaths on account of diarrhea epidemic reached 4 in the hilly district.
Doonichand, son of Ramsaran, a resident of village Ughaat of district Doda died this afternoon at 12:15 pm in the hospital. Doctors said that the 45-year old patient had reported in the emergency ward an hour before his death. “Doonichand was suffering from diarrhea. The moment he was brought in the hospital, we gave him the required treatment but unfortunately the patient could not survive,” told the doctors.
Doctors maintained that besides diarrhea, the patient was also suffering from heart ailment. “Diarrhea was obviously the primary cause. The water level of his body reduced drastically due to diarrhea yet he also suffered heart stroke,” they claimed.
 Meanwhile the senior health official of the district hospital, Doda informed that fifty fresh cases of diarrhea were reported today in the hospital out of which 22 were admitted in the hospital. The total number of patients reported during August 22 to September 2 is 1618 out of which 1316 were admitted in the hospital while 1268 were discharged from the district hospital. The senior health official asserted that there is a decline in the number of patients in the past few days.
The number of diarrhea patients in tehsil Banihal reached 900 with 30 fresh patients of diarrhea reporting today in emergency hospital Banihal. Twenty more fresh cases of diarrhea were admitted in the hospital today.
However, the relatives of the affected admitted in the district hospital were all fire against the PHE officials, whose negligence cost few their lives and put hundreds of others in such a serious condition.
“It is shameful on the part of PHE department. Neither the Chief Engineer PHE is here to clarify nor the PHE Minister has bothered to visit to take stock of the situation or to know the well being of the people,” stated the angry kith and kin of the patients.
 “The central team, the team from Jammu - almost everyone has made this observation that the filth was accumulated in the filtration plants which was the main reason behind the spread of this epidemic. This speaks of despicable negligence of PHE officials,” they added.
Sources in the hospital maintained that each day fresh cases of diarrhea are being reported in the hospital from far flung areas like Thathri, Dessa, Ghat, Kastigarh, Ganika, Manjini, Trool etc despite the “vigorous health awareness campaign” being run across the two districts as claimed by the concerned department.  
However, the health official of the Banihal hospital maintained that the number of diarrhea cases has gradually gone down in last couple of days and the situation is under control.
The central team that had arrived to take stock of epidemic and patients inspected the hospital and patients. The team during its visit to Banihal collected the samples of water to ascertain the causes responsible for the epidemic.
The central team before leaving for Jammu also interacted with the patients admitted in the hospital as well as issued instructions to the hospital authorities regarding preventive measures for controlling the epidemic. Meanwhile, the residents of Kasakoot in block Banihal which is the worst affected due to the epidemic too blamed the PHE officials for showing negligence.