Over 100 take ill near Udamalpet

By Our Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE, MAY 6. More than 100 persons, including women and children, suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting in Komaralingam Town Panchayat area, 15 km from Udamalpet in Coimbatore District. A wave of illness struck this region late last night, sending the entire District Administration machinery into a tizzy.

Official sources said today the people were suffering from acute gastroenteritis. However, diarrhoea swabs have been sent for culture test and water samples were being analysed to detect the actual cause.

The District Administration said 122 persons were treated for diarrhoea and vomiting. Fourteen persons were referred to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, 31 admitted to the Government Hospital in Udamalpet and seven were undergoing treatment in the Primary Health Centre in Komaralingam. Seventy- three were treated as out-patients. Those admitted to hospitals as in-patients were said to be stable.

With little time to react, the District Administration swung into action in an effort at swiftly reaching medical help to patients. The District Collector, Mr. G. Santhanam, who rushed to Komaralingam at 4 a.m. today told presspersons at the Udamalpet Inspection Bungalow that at 11 p.m. last night, the Tahsildar of that area, Mr. Narayanamurthy, had informed that there were reports of cases of stomach pain and vomiting. At 1 a.m., the Komaralingam Town Panchayat President, Mr. C. Ramalingam, had reported that many villagers complained of diarrhoea and vomiting.

As the situation seemed to worsen, the Collector had asked the Pollachi Sub-Collector, Mr. Harsahai Meena, the Joint Superintendent of Police, Tirupur, Mr. Amal Raj, mobilise doctors and vehicles as both were found inadequate. The few doctors who were rushed to the spot were besieged by villagers thronging the PHC for treatment.

The Dean of the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, Dr. (Capt.) Munirathinam, was contacted and a Crisis Management Team comprising doctors from the CMCH rushed to Komaralingam. At the same time the Udamalpet Deputy Superintendent of Police was also asked to take a posse of policemen to the spot to avert any unrest. Finding the medicine stock and number of doctors at the Udamalpet GH inadequate, medicines and doctors were rushed from the Pollachi GH.

The Tamil Nadu State Government Transport Corporation too rushed three buses, one to ferry patients to the CMCH in Coimbatore city and the other three to shuttle between Udamalpet and Komaralingam.

The Town Panchayat President launched into a campaign throughout the affected area to ask people to consume only boiled water. The Health Department then ordered chlorination of water stored in overhead tanks.

Official sources said the inflow of patients thinned towards afternoon, with just one or two being brought to the PHC with complaints of the same symptoms. The Joint Director of Health Services, Mr. Newman and the Deputy Director of Health Services, Mr. K. Soundararajan, said medicines were being distributed to the family members of the patients to prevent ``contact infection''.

The Health Department would also carry out cholera prevention inoculation among about 10,000 villagers of Komaralingam, Samarayapatti and Kolumam. This was a precautionary measure as a three-day temple festival was to held next week in which people from 18 villages would take part.

According to the villagers they have been provided with piped drinking water supply from the Amaravati River. The water was pumped into overhead tanks and then supplied to individual house connections and public fountains. Some of them alleged that some industrial units located on the banks of the river were polluting the water with effluents and feared that the illness could have been caused by this practice. The villagers said two such ``stray cases'' were found in Rudrapalayam and five in Kallapuram a couple of days ago. Over the last couple of days, the water at some points resembled tea in colour.

When asked whether the causative factor had been detected with the preliminary investigations, the Collector said only the results of the water sample analysis could say what could have triggered the illness.

The Udamalpet MLA, Mr. K. Selvaraj, has also asked the people to reduced to the maximum possible extent consumption of water from the river. He announced at the spot the sanction of funds from the MLA's Constituency Development Fund to sink three borewells in Komaralingam. The exact amount would be given after the estimates for the borewells were prepared, Mr. Selvaraj said.

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