Four more children die in Ramnagar, death toll ten

Union Health ministry deputes its team

JAMMU: The toll in children deaths due to a mysterious disease in Ramnagar town of Udhampur district has increased to ten, even as at least six others have been taken ill, prompting the Centre to deploy a team of medical experts to join the probe to ascertain the cause of deaths.
Locals, however, claim the number of deaths to as high as fourteen within the 25-30 kilometers radius of the town in past two weeks, even as a number of medical teams are already camping in the area.
The News Now was the first publication to report the deaths due to this unknown etiology in its January 17 edition.
While officials had confirmed of six deaths—all of children aged from 1 to 6 years-- on Thursday, the toll has now increased to ten, they informed.
The children's death entailing complaints of fever, vomiting and low urine output were reported from different villages of Ramnagar block of the district over the past fortnight.
The government had preliminarily attributed the deaths to febrile illness—the sudden fever or elevation in body temperature, and three days later, it is yet to zero in on the cause of the deaths.
"Our survey of the affected area revealed 10 children died of the mysterious disease in an area of 40-kilometre radius in Ramnagar block. The symptoms of the disease include fever and vomiting followed by renal problem," Udhampur's Chief Medical Officer K C Dogra said.
He said six other children, all below the age of four, are still undergoing treatment at different hospitals -- three in PGI Chandigarh, two at SMGS Hospital Jammu and one in Ludhiana (Punjab).
Reports say that many other children have been admitted to the GMC hospital in Jammu, Narayana hospital at Katra and even outside the state by the parents after they complained of cough and giddiness.
"Various teams of doctors from Jammu, Udhampur and the Ramnagar block level are camping in the affected area and we are trying to ascertain the cause of the disease," Dogra said.
While a Block Level Heath Team and a District Rapid Response Team were deputed to the area to investigate the matter on Thursday, the union Health Ministry sent a 5-member-team of experts on Saturday.
“A central team of experts, deployed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, would soon visit Jammu and Kashmir to investigate the children's death due to unknown etiology, being reported from the Ramnagar block of Udhampur district,” said an official spokesman.
"The team will assist J&K Health Department in ascertaining the cause of deaths and instituting requisite public health measures. The team, upon completion of their activities, will submit a report to Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare," the spokesman said.
The visiting team comprises Specialist (Pediatrics) Sumit Mehndiratta of New Delhi's Safdarujing Hospital, Deputy Director (Microbiology) Mahesh Waghmare of the National Center for Disease Control, Delhi and Assistant Director (Epidemiology) Suneet Kaur of Delhi's National Center for Disease Control, besides microbiologist Shilpa Tomar and epidemiologist Avinash Deoshatwar of National Institute Of Virology, Pune.
What is even more astonishing in this matter is the revelation that the deaths had started occurring in the area around three weeks ago, but were not taken cognisance of by the authorities who passed the deaths as one-off.
It was only after the death toll increased and residents of the area raised hue and cry that the health department woke up from the slumber.
The lackadaisical approach of the Department can be gauged from the letter forwarded to Block Development Officer, Ramnagar by the Chief Medical Officer, Udhampur on Thursday, seeking explanation for delay to ascertain the cause of the deaths.
Udhampur's District Development Commissioner Piyush Singla has already directed the Public Health Engineering Department to collect samples of drinking water for laboratory testing and to ensure safe drinking water is provided to the public.
District health authorities have appealed to the public not to panic and consult doctors in nearby health centres if there is any case having symptoms of fever, vomiting and low urine output.