Post News Network
Cuttack, Jan 5: After assuming alarming proportions in Sambalpur and Kendrapara districts, jaundice seems to have reared its ugly head in the district.
Prasanna Dakua, a resident of Beherasahi, has been admitted to medicine ward of SCB Medical College and Hospital after diagnosed with jaundice. His condition is stated to be critical. Apart from Prasanna, a few residents of Bakharabad and Alamchand Bazaar are down with the disease, said sources.
Residents, meanwhile, attributed the outbreak of the disease to overcrowded and poor sanitary conditions. At a time when sanitation has gone haywire with piles of garbage littering the city streets, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation and the district administration are yet to wake from their slumber to contain the disease before it spreads.
While the disease has already claimed 19 lives and affected more than 2,000 people in Sambalpur since May 2014, failure of the civic body and district administration to come up with preventive measures has invited flak from all and sundry.
Corporator Arun Sethy said, “Drains are not being cleaned regularly. Besides, garbage dumped at Nimasahi, Gamhadia, Canal Road, Thoriasahi and near Dagarpada School is not collected regularly.” Such unhygienic practices may help spread the disease, he added.
Gastroenterology department assistant professor Haribhakti Sevadas said traditional practices should not be tried on jaundice patients. A resident of Sambalpur ate henna after she was diagnosed with jaundice. She was admitted to SCB in a critical condition, she stated.
Assistant professor Chittaranjan Panda of gastroenterology department said patients should intake sufficient glucose and water as part of preventive measures to contain the disease.
SCB has witnessed a rise in the number of jaundice patients of Sambalpur. As many as 30 patients from Sambalpur have visited the hepatology department in last month of which a patient died while undergoing treatment, said the department head Umesh Chandra Patra.