Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=290860
11 die and 1341 hospitalised as stomach bug strikes again
2009/02/03
A FRESH outbreak of diarrhoea in the Transkei, where more than a hundred babies died last summer, has hospitalised hundreds of people and angered residents still hurting from the last epidemic.
Promises by the government to prevent a similar tragedy to last year, when an estimated 140 children and babies died in the Sterkspruit and Barkly East areas from January to March because of widespread diarrhoea, have only partly materialised.
Although this season?s fatalities are far fewer, communities in Sterkspruit are still battling with illnesses they blame on the water supply.
Last week the provincial Health Department said in a statement that 1341 children were treated at 52 provincial hospitals between October and December last year for diarrhoea, compared with 3000 children treated over the same period in 2007.
In Ukhahlamba District Municipality, which includes Sterkspruit, 11 diarrhoea-related fatalities were recorded in December. It was in the same area that ANC acting provincial secretary Pemmy Majodina openly wept last August and apologised to families for the government?s failure in preventing the tragedy.
Majodina, still fresh from her appointment as Health MEC, promised a change for the better: ?Please, don?t judge us by our past. It is over,? she told villagers in her home district.
This time round Empilisweni Hospital has been stocked with medication to treat such an outbreak, no doubt playing a big part in reducing mortality in the area.
But beyond the hospital the district is still crippled by under- development.
When the Dispatch spent three days in the town at the end of last month, residents, business people, community leaders and even nurses were adamant the water supply in the town was to blame.
A director of the main water service provider, Sintec, admitted the purification plant was beset by broken machinery, and water provision had been affected in December.
A plant employee took the Dispatch on a tour and identified broken items still awaiting repair.
Ukhahlamba District Municipality admitted there were intermittent problems with the water but denied there was any link to the diarrhoea outbreak.
Municipal manager Zolile Williams said it was regularly tested. ?Apart from the water being slightly discoloured (which is an indication of turbidity) the health indicators tested have improved significantly in both urban and rural areas.?
But as the Dispatch pictures show, water is emerging from taps with more than slight discoloration.
Kedibone Mpeke, 26, a mother of two, told of her fear as she took her sickly daughter Kamohelo to Empilisweni Hospital.
?She has been vomiting a lot; she is weak and has a runny stomach. This has been happening for two days, but I don?t want to take chances with my baby in case it is that diarrhoea that killed babies last year.?
The Health Department is taking no chances. Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said they were dispensing rotaviral medicines to children under the age of five. - By LUBABALO NGCUKANA
11 die and 1341 hospitalised as stomach bug strikes again
2009/02/03
A FRESH outbreak of diarrhoea in the Transkei, where more than a hundred babies died last summer, has hospitalised hundreds of people and angered residents still hurting from the last epidemic.
Promises by the government to prevent a similar tragedy to last year, when an estimated 140 children and babies died in the Sterkspruit and Barkly East areas from January to March because of widespread diarrhoea, have only partly materialised.
Although this season?s fatalities are far fewer, communities in Sterkspruit are still battling with illnesses they blame on the water supply.
Last week the provincial Health Department said in a statement that 1341 children were treated at 52 provincial hospitals between October and December last year for diarrhoea, compared with 3000 children treated over the same period in 2007.
In Ukhahlamba District Municipality, which includes Sterkspruit, 11 diarrhoea-related fatalities were recorded in December. It was in the same area that ANC acting provincial secretary Pemmy Majodina openly wept last August and apologised to families for the government?s failure in preventing the tragedy.
Majodina, still fresh from her appointment as Health MEC, promised a change for the better: ?Please, don?t judge us by our past. It is over,? she told villagers in her home district.
This time round Empilisweni Hospital has been stocked with medication to treat such an outbreak, no doubt playing a big part in reducing mortality in the area.
But beyond the hospital the district is still crippled by under- development.
When the Dispatch spent three days in the town at the end of last month, residents, business people, community leaders and even nurses were adamant the water supply in the town was to blame.
A director of the main water service provider, Sintec, admitted the purification plant was beset by broken machinery, and water provision had been affected in December.
A plant employee took the Dispatch on a tour and identified broken items still awaiting repair.
Ukhahlamba District Municipality admitted there were intermittent problems with the water but denied there was any link to the diarrhoea outbreak.
Municipal manager Zolile Williams said it was regularly tested. ?Apart from the water being slightly discoloured (which is an indication of turbidity) the health indicators tested have improved significantly in both urban and rural areas.?
But as the Dispatch pictures show, water is emerging from taps with more than slight discoloration.
Kedibone Mpeke, 26, a mother of two, told of her fear as she took her sickly daughter Kamohelo to Empilisweni Hospital.
?She has been vomiting a lot; she is weak and has a runny stomach. This has been happening for two days, but I don?t want to take chances with my baby in case it is that diarrhoea that killed babies last year.?
The Health Department is taking no chances. Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said they were dispensing rotaviral medicines to children under the age of five. - By LUBABALO NGCUKANA