Barnala, Punjab (July 22, 2013): According to media reports Kalala village of the Barnala district has been hit by ‘hepatitis C and diarrhoea’, with more than 200 of its residents undergoing treatment for these diseases at various government and private hospitals.
According to Times of India (TOI): “[h]ighly contaminated water and heaps of garbage near the water sources are cited to be possible reasons for the outbreak of these diseases”.
As per media reports the newly-elected village Sarpanch, Ranjit Singh Rana, said, “despite bringing it to the notice of health authorities, nothing has been done to tackle the problem. Only a few out of 390 houses in the village may be left where no one has contracted hepatitis C”.
As per TOI a villager, Tarsem Singh, said, “Diseases are spreading because of contaminated water. To stop these from spreading their tentacles, we want reverse osmosis (RO) system to be installed in our village.”
Harwinder Singh, who is afflicted with hepatitis C, reportedly said, “I lost my father due to this dreaded disease, and now I am also suffering from it.”
On the other hand the administration has been denying that the cause of health hazard in Kalala village is the contaminated water. As per TOI: Barnala civil surgeon Dr. Renu reportedly said, “there are no definite cases of hepatitis, but some residents could be suffering from it.” She said hepatitis is not caused by water but by using same needle for medical purposes. Dr Renu claimed that authorities had been directed to take samples from every household.
“We have collected 41 samples so far,” she reportedly added.