VALPOI: Since past seven days, the villagers from Charawane village are reportedly to have been falling sick due to loose motion, vomiting and fever.
Charawane villagers informed that around 30 villagers as of now have fallen sick and the number has been increasing day by day. Some of the villagers have been undergoing treatment at Community Health Centre, Valpoi while others have been shifted to private hospitals.
“We have been drinking water from an open well, for many decades. And the Water Supply Department, Valpoi has failed to clean the well for the past many years. To make matters worse, we rarely receive tap water and that too is muddy,” the locals complained.
“We are facing the water shortage problem in our village for the last six decades. We have informed our elected representatives on several times and have also raised the issue of at the Gram sabha, but all our requests have fallen flat as the no action has been taken till date, the villagers further complained.
There are around 160 houses in Charawane having a total population of nearly a thousand.
“We are drinking water from the open well in our village well, since past six decades. And water supply department has failed to clean the well for many years. For the last seven days, we are falling sick on account of loose motion, vomiting and fever,” said Subhash Gawas, a villager.
“The Water Supply Department, Valpoi has installed a pump to the open well but have never cleaned the well. The well water is unfit for drinking purpose. This is the second incident of villagers falling sick reported in our village,” says another villager Satish Gawas.
“Till now, around 30 plus villagers have fallen sick. They have been vomiting having loose motion and fever. Doctors from the Valpoi Community Health Centre have visited in village and have taken the samples of well and tap water,” informed Prajeeta Gawas, a panch.
Confirming the news, CHC Valpoi Health Officer, Dr Gajanan Naik said, “Five patients, who complained of diarrhoea, have been admitted to CHC Valpoi and around 30 patients are taking treatment in the OPD at RMD Thane and CHC Valpoi. Manipal Centre for Virus Research team has already taken samples of villagers such as blood, stool, urine and throat swabs and have sent the same for testing at Manipal University and the reports will be out soon. As soon as we started getting cases, we informed the Assistant Engineer of Water Supply and had sent our health team to Charawane village for surveillance. We found that villagers had a annual function in the village where many had had consumed junk food, and also found out that villagers consume water from an open well and bore well and later we requested Water Supply Department to take water samples for testing”.
The condition of all the patients is stable and under information, education and communication (IEC) awareness activities, villagers have been told to washing their hands with soap, avoid open defecation, handle food and drinking water in a careful manner, keep food properly covered and away from flies, drink only boiled water, and seek medical care as soon as diarrhoea or vomiting occur,” Dr Naik added.
