Jaundice fury unabated in Solan

Tribune News Service

Solan, February 12

With jaundice showing no let-up 25 new cases of jaundice were detected in Solan today taking the total number of such cases to 391.

Medical Officer Health Dr NK Gupta, while confirming the development, said the peak period of the disease was being witnessed and more cases could surface in the next few days.

He said people should ensure proper cleaning of their water tanks and consume water boiled for at least 20 minutes.

Deputy Commissioner Madan Chauhan today convened a meeting of all hoteliers in the town and gave them necessary directions to deal with this situation.

Officials of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department were undertaking cleansing of water tanks of all schools in the town. A three-member team had been constituted with clear directions to complete this task at the earliest.

Since the schools have re-opened after the winter break it had become imperative to clean the tanks and re-fill fresh water as a precautionary measure. The IPH staff was on its knees trying to clean the water tanks of various educational institutions in the town as schools had re-opened. Facing flak for failing to maintain a regular check on the quality of water supplied to the town residents after detection of Hepatitis-E virus in the water by the National Institute of Virology, Pune, the staff was now trying to ensure optimum cleaning of water tanks in the town. Crucial parameters like biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand of various sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Solan, Parwanoo and Arki have failed to comply with the norms in the last few months. Little has been done to ensure their optimum upkeep. The danger of jaundice spreading its tentacles also hovered on these areas of the district after Solan. The samples of Arki STP have failed twice in the recent past.