Taking serious view of outbreak of jaundice in Shimla town and its adjoining areas, chief minister Virbhadra Singh today directed the concerned officers to work on a "war footing" to effectively control the disease.
The CM also directed them to strictly follow the protocol for monitoring the quality of water and sewerage connectivity.
Taking stock of the latest situation regarding spread of jaundice in Shimla and Solan at a high level meeting here today, Singh said that the quality of water should be checked at multiple levels and it should be ensured that sewage did not flow into main source of water at any place in the state.
Cautioning the officials that no laxity at any level would be brooked, he directed that weekly reports of quality of water be sent to the government so that immediate action could be taken in case water was found to be contaminated.
Chief minister said that several steps have been taken to check jaundice and a Special Investigation team (SIT) has been set up to go into the reasons for spread of the disease and fix the responsibly and warned that action would be taken against the erring and defaulting officials.
He also conveyed his displeasure over the fact that precautionary measures was not taken by the concerned officers and the situation was allowed to go out of control.
Chief Minister also directedfor chlorination of water at the pumping stations and treatment plants throughout the State.
He said that the government would provide facility of treatment of jaundice patients and also the medicines, free of cost, adding that free test facility for suspected jaundice cases had already been provided at IGMC and DDU hospitals in Shimla.
He directed the Irrigation and Public Health department and Municipal Corporation, Shimla to plug the leakages and connect all households to the main sewer line and also improve the sanitary conditions in Ashwani Khud catchment and ensuring sewerage connectivity.
Town and Country Planning Department has been directed to ensure cent per cent sewerage connectivity in planning areas and department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj for rural areas.
So far more than 1000 cases of jaundice had been reported in the hospitals but the actual number was much more as many patients are not coming to hospitals, said a senior doctor at IGMC.
Meanwhile the former chief minister P K Dhumal has again attacked the government for failure to check jaundice in Shimla and Solan and said that it was taking action against petty officials at lower level in a bid to save the big-wigs responsible for malfunctioning of Ashwani khud water supply scheme and contamination of water due to "mixing of sewage", resulting in outbreak of jaundice.
