Force deployed to tackle Orissa cholera menace

BHUBANESWAR -) An eight-member team of a specially trained state force was pressed into service Monday to tackle cholera and other water-borne diseases that have claimed 39 lives in Orissa’s Rayagada district since August, an official said.

The Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), specialised in search and rescue operations during disaster, have been deployed to bring patients from inaccessible areas, District Collector N. B. Jawale told IANS.

“Health officials are facing difficulty in reaching more then 20 villages under the Gudari block area because of a river. We have asked the ODRAF to reach the villages with powerboats,” he said.

“At least 660 patients from 102 villages were treated over the past weeks. We are taking all steps to bring the situation under control,” he said adding that around 50 new patients undergo treatment in various health camps and hospitals in the region every day.

“We are struggling to prevent the disease from spreading. But the patients do not come to the hospital for treatment,” a doctor said.

The state government last week announced an incentive of Rs.100 for those bringing a patient to government hospitals and Rs.200 if anybody brings a patient at night.

The government has also decided to provide one dhoti (traditional wear) and one piece of soap to each of the male patients and a saree and one piece of soap to each of the female patients.

Rayagada, about 390 km from here, is among the most underdeveloped districts in the country and often makes headlines for starvation deaths.