The recent outbreak of the Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in Pune was most likely due to contaminated water sources, said Maharashtra’ health minister Prakash Abitkar while interacting with the media in Pune on Monday. He added that the state government will cap the treatment cost in hospitals and ensure patients do not get fleeced.
Abitkar, who visited Pune and undertook a review, told reporters that cases were unlikely to rise any further. “Currently 17 patients are on ventilator support and this morning at least seven persons were discharged,” he said, adding that there was a cluster of 80 acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases mainly from Sinhagad area. GBS is a common cause of acute flaccid paralysis . Around 21 are below 15 years of age.
Over the the last few days, Pune has seen a sudden increase in patients afflicted with GBS. As of Monday, 111 suspected patients are hospitalised with 17 of them on ventilator support. A patient had died in Solapur who had originally been in Pune. On Monday Abitkar toured the areas as well as hospitals.
While speaking to the media he said 80 percent of the patients are from a single periphery. “These are the merged villages with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the area does not have a water treatment plant. As the patients are mostly from the same area, it is likely that polluted water is the cause of the outbreak ,” he said. Abitkar said the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has taken steps to address the issues. The civic body has plugged 12 leaks, took up urgent repairs in five areas and replaced a drainage line. Abitkar said monitoring of water sources will also be taken up.
The state government has increased the outlay under the Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya Scheme for cases related to the disease, with PMC making necessary arrangements for ventilators and medicines. When asked about allegations that hospitals were overcharging patients, Abitkar said the state government will cap the treatment price. He also appealed to patients to seek treatment at empanelled hospitals.
The state government said it would soon issue a list of standard operation protocol for water sources and the treatment of water. He appealed to people to boil water before drinking.
Other than testing water sources, the PMC has taken up testing water supplied by tankers. Around 180 water samples were sent for analysis and 65,000 people in the vicinity of the outbreak surveyed.
Shekhar Singh, commissioner of PCMC, said the civic body has doubled the number of water samples it will analyse. He also said the civic body has taken up testing water in bottling plants and private wells too.
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