AMARAVATI: Health authorities in Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru town sounded an alert on Sunday as over 200 people were hospitalised since Saturday night with symptoms resembling epilepsy.
While 140 people admitted to various hospitals on Saturday were discharged, about 90 more people reported sick on Sunday.
About 50 people were brought to Government Hospital Eluru with symptoms of nausea and fainting. Another 60 people were admitted to private hospitals.
They were brought to hospitals with symptoms like suddenly collapsing, frothing at mouth and shivering. Those who were hospitalised on Saturday night were discharged on Sunday morning after they recovered.
Doctors said the condition of all was stable. Two people were shifted to Vijayawada due to their worsening condition.
Medical and health experts were trying to ascertain the cause of sickness. Most of the affected people were elderly and children.
Authorities were baffled as the affected people were neither related nor they had attended a common event.
According to officials, the cases were reported from different areas in Eluru town of West Godavari district.
Experts were analysing the cases. The blood samples of those reported sick were also collected but the reports were found normal.
Health Minister Alla Nani, who visited the Government Hospital and called on the people undergoing treatment, said their Covid-19 samples were also tested and none of them found positive.
He said 150 beds in Eluru and 50 beds in Vijayawada were kept ready for any emergency. “The government is taking all necessary steps. There is no need for any panic,” he said, adding that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was personally monitoring the situation.
Alla Nani directed medical and health officials to conduct door-to-door survey to find out if the affected people had used contaminated food or water.
The health authorities have also been asked to ensure availability of emergency medicines to deal with any situation.
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday alleged that the Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy state government’s apathy led to several people falling sick in Eluru town.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President slammed the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government for neglecting public health which led to over 150 people falling ill in Eluru in West Godavari district.
The Leader of Opposition claimed that the illness spread because of the supply of contaminated drinking water in the town. He expressed concern that most of the sick people were children and elderly.
“Shocked and enraged at the AP Government’s apathy towards people. About 150 people, mostly children, have taken ill after drinking contaminated water in Eluru because the irresponsible Government hasn’t cared to clean local drinking water bodies for the last 18 months,” he said.
Naidu said ironically, Eluru sickness outbreak took place in the Health Minister’s own constituency. The Eluru incident has once again exposed the ineffectiveness and inability of the government to provide efficient administration and good governance, he added.
Meanwhile, TDP General Secretary Nara Lokesh attributed the Eluru sickness to the gross negligence on the part of the Jagan Reddy regime.
“The people had no health security and were under life threat in the Health Minister’s own constituency. Everybody is afraid whether the people in the rest of the state are in safe hands or not,” he said.
Lokesh demanded the government shed its irresponsible behaviour and start taking care of public health. “Best medical care should be provided to all the people taken ill in Eluru. Special care should be given to the affected children,” he said.
Several people started frothing and fell unconscious in Eluru on Saturday. The incidents were reported from localities like Padamara Veedhi, Dakshinapu Veedhi, Kothapet, Vankayagudem and Kobbaripeta.
Most of the sick persons were shifted to various hospitals. Their families were in a state of shock and confusion with the doctors unable to immediately ascertain the reasons for the sickness.
The TDP has been agitating for long against the “negligence” of the municipal, medical and health infrastructure in the state. At the time of Covid outbreak also, the frontline workers like doctors, nurses, sanitation workers were not given the required PPE kits and gloves, the TDP leader said.