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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Kutch’s Khadir island in grip of viral fever
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=200006
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http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=200006
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="467"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td colspan="3">[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Villagers say docs missing in action at PHC, no timely checks; officials say they have deputed one[/FONT]</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="3" height="10">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="3">Express News Service</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="3" height="10">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"> <td colspan="3"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bhuj, September 5:[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]RESIDENTS of 10 villages on Khadir island in the Rann have complained that though fever — both viral as well as malarial — has played havoc on the island, the health authorities are not taking proper steps. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]They have said that the district health administration under the district panchayat has not taken timely and proper action, for which the situation has aggravated.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]‘There is a Public Health Centre (PHC) at Dholavira, one of the villages, but it remains closed most of the time as no medical staff live here. We saw only a compounder in our village today in the last 10 days and that too when we personally went to Bhuj to tell district health committee chairman Girish Chheda and the chief district health officer that no household in Khadir island was free from fever,’’ said former chairman of the District Central Co-operative Bank, Velubha Sodha, from Dholavira.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Earlier, acting chief district health officer A H Acharya had said that in the past 10 days teams of health officials had conducted two surveys in each of the 10 villages and provided treatment at a camp at Dholavira.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He said since the island had more cases of fever than reported from other parts of the district, they had now decided to have weekly surveys and that three teams had been dispatched to the island.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He said only two or three cases of malaria were found during the survey, and the others were cases of viral fever.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Acharya also said they had posted one mobile doctor at Dholavira and the regular doctor would be resuming his duty soon on his return from Surat.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]However, Sodha said that there was no survey. ‘‘We have not found any survey teams. No precautionary measures like spraying DDT were taken. Only a day-long camp was held at our village but that was not sufficient as thousands of villagers were suffering from fever,’’ Sodha said.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]According to him, the nearest medical facility is available only at Rapar, 100 km from Khadir.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]‘‘The ST bus from here goes full with patients to Rapar,’’ he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ratanpar village leader Veljibhai Ahir said that the fever was both malarial and viral one.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He said five island villages — Bhambhanka, Ganeshpar, Janan, Dholavira and Kalyanpar — had also reported gastro cases because of stoppage of Narmada piped water. Ahir said the situation had aggravated with the death of sole RMP who used to provide medical service to the entire island.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He said the people had to come to Rapar for treatment.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Meanwhile, a laboratory technician at Rapar said that blood samples from all over the island tested malaria positive.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Acharya said that bad roads and poor living condition on the island did pose problems for their staff at the Dholavira PHC.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] ‘‘But it is wrong to say that we do not attend to the villagers’ health problems,’’ said the health officer.[/FONT]
</td></tr></tbody></table>
</td></tr><tr valign="top"><td colspan="3">Express News Service</td></tr> <tr valign="top"><td colspan="3" height="10">
</td></tr><tr valign="top"> <td colspan="3"> [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bhuj, September 5:[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]RESIDENTS of 10 villages on Khadir island in the Rann have complained that though fever — both viral as well as malarial — has played havoc on the island, the health authorities are not taking proper steps. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]They have said that the district health administration under the district panchayat has not taken timely and proper action, for which the situation has aggravated.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]‘There is a Public Health Centre (PHC) at Dholavira, one of the villages, but it remains closed most of the time as no medical staff live here. We saw only a compounder in our village today in the last 10 days and that too when we personally went to Bhuj to tell district health committee chairman Girish Chheda and the chief district health officer that no household in Khadir island was free from fever,’’ said former chairman of the District Central Co-operative Bank, Velubha Sodha, from Dholavira.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Earlier, acting chief district health officer A H Acharya had said that in the past 10 days teams of health officials had conducted two surveys in each of the 10 villages and provided treatment at a camp at Dholavira.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He said since the island had more cases of fever than reported from other parts of the district, they had now decided to have weekly surveys and that three teams had been dispatched to the island.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He said only two or three cases of malaria were found during the survey, and the others were cases of viral fever.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Acharya also said they had posted one mobile doctor at Dholavira and the regular doctor would be resuming his duty soon on his return from Surat.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]However, Sodha said that there was no survey. ‘‘We have not found any survey teams. No precautionary measures like spraying DDT were taken. Only a day-long camp was held at our village but that was not sufficient as thousands of villagers were suffering from fever,’’ Sodha said.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]According to him, the nearest medical facility is available only at Rapar, 100 km from Khadir.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]‘‘The ST bus from here goes full with patients to Rapar,’’ he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ratanpar village leader Veljibhai Ahir said that the fever was both malarial and viral one.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He said five island villages — Bhambhanka, Ganeshpar, Janan, Dholavira and Kalyanpar — had also reported gastro cases because of stoppage of Narmada piped water. Ahir said the situation had aggravated with the death of sole RMP who used to provide medical service to the entire island.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]He said the people had to come to Rapar for treatment.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Meanwhile, a laboratory technician at Rapar said that blood samples from all over the island tested malaria positive.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Acharya said that bad roads and poor living condition on the island did pose problems for their staff at the Dholavira PHC.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] ‘‘But it is wrong to say that we do not attend to the villagers’ health problems,’’ said the health officer.[/FONT]
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