Authorities express satisfaction with gastroenteritis management in health block Sallar

Srinagar, July  21: On the directives of Secretary Health and Medical Education, Dr. Syed Abid Rasheed Shah (IAS), Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr. Mushtaq Ahmad Rather, visited the gastroenteritis-affected villages of Health Block Sallar to assess the situation.

Accompanied by Chief Medical Officer Anantnag and BMO Sallar, Dr. Rather expressed satisfaction with the overall management of the outbreak.

Pertinently, the Health Department Kashmir has been engaged in managing the outbreak since the last two days, with 180 people presenting with symptoms of gastroenteritis, out of which 121 needed admission for a short stay. Fortunately, 117 have been discharged, and only 4 remain admitted at present.

Extensive IEC activities have been undertaken, and people have been made aware of SoPs through regular door-to-door campaigns in the affected villages. Chlorination of water sources has been done, and water samples have been collected for investigation to understand the cause of the outbreak. A spokesperson of the Health department giving further details said that nearly 400 households have been reached out through door to door campaigns of the Health department and more than 2000 units of ORS distributed among them.

Dr Rather appreciated the medical staff for their outstanding efforts in controlling the situation and appealed to the public to follow the SoPs conveyed by health teams. He emphasised the importance of using only boiled water strictly to prevent further cases.

Secretary Health and Medical Education is personally monitoring the situation and is in constant touch with the health administration regarding the outbreak.