JAUNDICE WREAKS HAVOC DUE TO CONTAMINATED WATER IN ABOHAR VILLAGES

Raj Sadosh/Abohar.

About 11 children have reportedly fallen ill due to drinking contaminated water in village Bishanpura and Seeto Gunno area of Balluana constituency in sub-division Abohar. In the medical reports, bilirubin and liver enzymes have been found to be many times higher than normal. Labourer families are facing the problem of expenses for the treatment of children.

According to the information, Sandhya (9) daughter of Bishanpura resident Sukhpal, is suffering from jaundice for the last 20 days. Thousands of rupees have been spent on eight days of treatment in a private hospital in Abohar, but the girl has not yet fully recovered. Her report recorded total bilirubin of 19.83 mg/dl. Similarly, bilirubin of 13-year-old Pooja is 5.7 mg/dl, while SGOT was found to be 95 and SGPT was found to be 897. According to the villagers, two children each are ill in the families of Sukhdev, Charanjit and Babu Ram.

Lab reports indicated severe symptoms of jaundice in many children. Villagers say that the problem of contaminated water has persisted for a long time, but its permanent investigation and solution has not been done. About 10-12 days ago, Sarpanch had said that samples of contaminated water would be sent to the Public Health Department for testing.

According to the villagers, the children who are seriously affected by jaundice include Sandhya Devi (9), Pooja (13), Ramandeep (9), Kajal (5), Divya (3), Lakshmi (14), Lovdeep (6), Navdeep (4), Jessica (8) and Arjun.

The villagers have demanded from the health department to immediately send a medical team to the villages, get the children examined and provide free treatment to the poor families.