Staff Reporter
PONGKONG/LONGLI-ANG, 3 Aug: Tirap DMO in-charge Dr. Obang Taggu on Wednesday informed that no new deaths due to diarrhea have been reported at Pongkong and Longliang villages.
Following the deaths of nine children aged between 3 and 7 years from Pongkong village and two adults from Longliang village due to an outbreak of diarrhoea and dysentery from 17 to 25 July, a medical camp was set up at Pongkong village to monitor the health of the patients and provide emergency services.
The DMO in-charge informed that the medical camp has been set up recently since the health sub-center in Pongkong is in a poor condition and no permanent staff could be stationed there.
The medical camp has 2 nurses on 24 hrs duty along with doctors who make daily visits from 10 am to 6pm. An ambulance is also provided 24 hours for patients.
Dr. Taggu informed that the medical camp in Pongkong currently has patients who are suffering from viral fever and that their condition is stable.
“One official from UNICEF, Itanagar and a state nodal officer for child health had also visited Pongkong village to assess the situation,” Dr. Taggu informed.
Regarding the result of the water and stool tests conducted recently, the DMO in-charge stated that the results showed presence of bacteria in both water and stool samples but the results could not confirm the outbreak to be water-borne.
“We are not sure that the outbreak is totally water-borne because there are several factors like, lack of hygiene and practice of open defecation apart from superstition and ignorance among the villagers. Many deaths could have been prevented if the patients availed immediate medical treatment but unfortunately due to superstition and belief in evil spirits many initially did not seek medical support,” added Dr Taggu.
