There is an outbreak of Hepatitis-A reported from Yaripora medical block of south Kashmir’s Kulgam where, so far, around eight cases of the disease have been identified, out of which two minors have lost their lives and others are undergoing treatment at GMC, Anantnag. While the reports of the water samples lifted from the village are awaited, the public health officials in the district have pointed to the contaminated drinking water as the source of disease. Ironically, there has not been any action so far from the authorities, nor has it been looked into as to why the village was being supplied with impure water for years.
Who is going to be responsible for the loss of tender lives in the village as the disease is waterborne and those infected, it is for sure, have consumed the contaminated water, because they have no other source of getting drinking water? Why can’t the authorities pull up the officials of the Jal Shakti Department for supplying the water to the houses despite knowing that the same was contaminated and could risk the lives of people?
But, what happens in our part of the world is that all the SOPs are followed in letter and spirit to contain the disease, in this case, Hepatitis-A, but hardly any attention is given towards ascertaining the causes of it. When public health officials have admitted that it happened due to the impure water—even the residents have said that in the name of drinking water, they are being supplied poison through taps—what is stopping the authorities from initiating action against those responsible?
A nearby filtration plan is in question from where the teams of DHSK have already taken the samples: it must be looked into, why wasn’t the necessary treatment of the water, to be supplied for drinking, done well in time, and why only after the outbreak of the disease did the Jal Shakti Officials started the chlorination of the drinking water? These are some questions which must be looked at to pave a way for fixing the accountability because it is a clear case of negligence which not only consumed two lives but has also put the entire village at risk. Every aspect related to the outbreak must be looked into and those responsible must be strictly punished.
Kashmir has had a history, that, in cases similar to outbreaks of diseases, they are mostly seen and perceived through the prism of medical science and all the resources and energy is put in for containing the spread and treating those affected, however, the other side of the story, which talks of ‘how’ of the outbreaks of the diseases, is hardly pursued, or looked into—it is always the ‘how’ which answers a lot of question and gives a chance of making sure that all the important elements are functional and intact. There is hope that this time, the ‘how’ of it would be investigated and the guilty punished.
