A Cholera outbreak has been suspected in ward number 7, 8 and 9 of Krishnanagar Municipality in Kapilvastu district with 305 diarrhea patients admitted at various hospitals till Wednesday evening. The actual number of such patients is estimated to be higher as only those who visited various hospitals have been counted so far.
People of Sukharampur, Jamuni, Devanagadiya, Bahadurganj, Ganespur, and Dabara areas, among other places of Krishnanagar-7, 8, and 9 are hospitalized. Although a team of health workers has been deployed to the affected areas, the situation is getting out of hand as the number of patients is increasing at an alarming rate each day.
Patients are being treated under the open sky, at hospitals’ corridors and terraces, and at the local Gorkha Secondary School as hospitals are inundated with diarrhea patients. As many as three patients are being treated in one bed, informed Dr Mukesh Chaudhary of Shivaraj Hospital in Bahadurganj. He said that over 180 such patients visited the Hospital by Wednesday afternoon.
Of the patients admitted to Shivaraj Hospital, 35 have been referred to Lumbini Provincial Hospital in Butwal and Taulihawa Hospital. Similarly, additional two doctors from Lumbini Provincial Hospital and four from Kapilvastu Hospital have been deployed in the area.
Though many such patients are said to be also visiting private clinics for treatment, the local level has not received their data. In Bahadurgunj alone, over 100 patients suffering from diarrhea are being treated at 10 private hospitals.
Two people from Bahadurgunj in Krishnanagar-8 have already succumbed to the illness.
An inspection team from the District Health Office, Kapilvastu and Provincial Health Directorate yesterday sent stool samples of some patients to a laboratory in Butuwal for test and to ascertain if it’s cholera or Kala-azar. It will take at least 48 hours for the test report to come.
Patients have been complaining of diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and weakness. Hemraj Pandey, Chief of the District Health Office, said that although the patients’ symptoms were similar to that of Kala-azar, they cannot confirm it until the test results arrive.
