Malkangiri: Two more children died of Japanese encephalitis at the district headquarters hospital here Monday, taking the total number of victims to 59.
The deceased were identified as Rame Telam (2), daughter of Muta Telam of Gorakhpalli village under Padia block and Deve Padiami (3), daughter of Shinga Padiami of Pedawada village under Kalimela block. Though another four-year-old girl also died at the hospital Monday, hospital sources claimed that to be a case of pneumonia.
Unofficial sources have pegged the toll above 60.
According to official sources, of the 184 children admitted to the hospital, 119 have been discharged so far. At present nine children are undergoing treatment at the DHH – one in the ICU and the rest in the JE ward, collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty told mediapersons.
The collector further said of the 56 children who died at the hospital, only 20 tested positive for JE. In the last two days, the DHH has not registered any fresh JE cases, it was learnt.
On the other hand, 11,697 bed nets have already been distributed in 110 villages while fogging operations were conducted in 203 villages. Besides, DDT and DTI have been sprayed in 103 and 136 villages respectively.
Providing more details on the casualties, the collector revealed that a total of 54 children tested positive of which 34 were discharged after treatment.
Meanwhile, Dr Nruparaj Sahoo, deputy secretary of panchayati raj who has been appointed as officer on special duty (OSD), visited the DHH Monday and spoke to officials. Future course of action would be decided following a meeting with the collector, Sahoo said.
Health director Dr Kailash Chandra Das said the number of JE-affected cases has been on the decline after massive awareness drives were launched by the health workers following the visit of the minister and secretary of the department. He hailed the efforts put in by the doctors of other districts to control the outbreak.
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