Orissas cholera cure: Reward for getting admitted in hospital

The Orissa government has resorted to announcing cash incentives for bringing cholera patients in Kalahandi to hospital....

The Orissa government has resorted to announcing cash incentives for bringing cholera patients in Kalahandi to hospital as its declaration of a cholera outbreak in the district has failed to bring about the same. With 26 people dying of diarrhoea in the last month in the district,the state government has now announced cash awards for those bringing the patients along with the patients.

Many people,especially female patients are not ready to come to the hospital for treatment. We have,therefore,announced the cash award, said Health Minister Prasanna Acharya. The District Administration will give Rs 200 along with new clothes to those who bring patients to hospital and Rs 200 to the patients once they are discharged. 250 patients have undergone treatment for the infection in the last month and the city-based Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC)has found the

dangerous vibrio cholerae bacteria in three cases.

The Health Minister,however,gave an assurance that there was no reason to panic. Two years ago,about 200 people had died in an outbreak of cholera and other water-borne diseases in the contiguous districts of Kalahandi,Koraput and Raygada.

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People are using water from natural sources like open wells. The use of water from natural sources and bad food habits is the main cause for the spread of the disease, Acharya said.

The minister said that steps had been initiated to disinfect all drinking water sources. He said that Asha karmis had been engaged to inculcate the habit of taking medicines among villagers and pointed out that in many instances patients had died after being discharged from hospital due to lack of adherence to the prescribed treatment.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who woke up to the seriousness of the tragedy only after a visit by a team of officials from the Delhi-based National Institute of Communicable Diseases last week,on Wednesday sent the Health Minister and the Health Secretary to Kalahandi.

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