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Madhya Pradesh State Surveillance Officer Dr Ashwin Bhagwat on Monday said that surveillance and response measures were intensified in Indore's Bhagirathpur area in view of the water contamination incident, adding that the situation was showing signs of improvement.
He highlighted that steps were already initiated to restore the regular water supply with ensuring safe drinking water. Speaking to ANI, State surveillance officer Dr Bhagwat said, "... Actions have already begun to restore the regular water supply. A sampling frequency after chlorination has been established to ensure safe drinking water and to support a gradual return to normal supply. Meanwhile, we have seen a declining trend in admissions of patients and in community-based active surveillance. Both have shown a declining trend..." He further stressed that the surveillance activity would continue until the routine supply was fully restored, adding that approx 200 teams were mobilised to cover around 5000 households. "Today, we launched a reconciliation process, a rapid active surveillance exercise. Volunteers from across the area, NGO staff, private-sector nursing personnel, and rural health workers are participating. Approximately 200 teams and 600 volunteers have been mobilised to cover roughly 5,000 households. These teams will carry out a rapid active search to identify all cases to date (active, recovered, and discharged). Cases will be geo-tagged and mapped; this spatial dataset will be overlaid with water-supply source information to inform future prevention efforts...," he said. Speaking about active patients, he highlighted that total admissions so far in the period of this outbreak stood at 409, of which 262 patients were discharged. Currently, 147 are active and undergoing treatment. He further said, "Water testing so far has indicated contamination consistent with waterborne diarrheal illness... Chemical analysis is being conducted but results are not yet available... Because contamination has been found in both the Narmada pipeline supply and tube wells, and because mixing occurs where these sources connect, it is not possible at this stage to attribute contamination to a single, specific source..." The water contamination incident in Indore's Bhagirathpura has sparked widespread criticism, as it claimed several lives and affected many families. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had announced Rs 2 lakh financial assistance to the families of the deceased and free treatment to all the affected people. (ANI)
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