Rajouri (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], January 21 (HBTV): The health department in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district is working on a war footing, with health officials launching extensive screening of residents.
The disease, which remains unidentified, has claimed 17 lives and affected 38 people since early December 2024. However, health department teams maintain that there is no need to declare a public health emergency.
Dr M L Raina, CMO of Rajouri, stated, 'We have repeatedly screened 1,600-1,700 houses. We have screened 9,000-10,000 houses from door to door. I have on-record data, day-wise data, and date-wise data. On the very next day of the 'unidentified' disease outbreak, we deployed our teams. We are doing both active and passive surveillance. There are our medical mobile units, a team of doctors from the National Health Organization, and a lab system.'
Dr Raina provided updates on the ongoing surveillance and public health efforts in the district. He mentioned that teams have been set up for all clusters and that surveillance has been conducted both actively and passively over the last two months.
'We have set up teams for the entire district and workers at the field level. We have eight different teams for eight clusters. For the last two months, we have been working on active and passive surveillance and base camps,' he added.
Dr Raina further mentioned that as per the test reports, there is no need to declare a 'public health emergency.'
'We have checked the system so that there are no problems. You can see that everything has been cleared from our side. The viral test results are still negative. None of them have come positive. Even if we go to the vectorology side, it is negative. If we go to the viral side, it is negative. There is no public health emergency,' he clarified.
A resident, Surjeet Singh Thakur, said, 'The health team here worked well from day one. Our police department is working with them to complete the investigation. The investigation is ongoing, and we are not sure why these casualties occurred. We have found out that this was not a bacterial disease or a virus. The samples of food, water, and all daily needs are being collected. We have not found out that this is a disease; it has been cleared... it is poison or something.'
'The department is working well. I have told you earlier that the entire police administration, civil administration, and medical team are present here. I think they have seen some small clues somewhere. But it will not be right to speak in front of you. This is part of the investigation. When this investigation is done properly, you will get to know,' he further added.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday ordered the constitution of an inter-ministerial team led by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to investigate the causes of unexplained deaths in three incidents reported over the past six weeks.
The Indian Army has been deployed to the area to provide essential supplies, including food, water, and shelter, to the residents.
(ANI)