NEW DELHI, JANUARY 22: The number of cholera cases in the Capital touched a dangerous high last year, according to data released by MCD Commissioner V.K. Duggal. There were 2,000 cholera cases in the city last year, close to the 2,226 cases reported in 1993 and the 1,693 cases recorded during the cholera epidemic of 1988.Duggal disclosed these figures at a symposium organised to generate ideas for the MCD's action plan on controlling water and mosquito-borne diseases this year. Health Minister A.K. Walia also attended the seminar. While opening the symposium, the MCD commissioner suggested a ban on the sale of cut fruits, exposed food and sugarcane juice units and said that there should be regular raids to check food hygiene. He also suggested that the Jal Board laboratory should conduct tests to check the quality of water, including the water supplied by tankers of the MCD and private agencies.Gastroenterologists and MCD health officials later said that handpumps near drains and septic tanks and water lines running through drains were responsible for the high incidence of diarrhoea in slums. Doctors called for popularising the oral rehydration mixture as a cure for diarrhoea. They, however, added that the low price of the mixture (Rs 2) was perhaps acting against it as people were sceptical about its quality.Experts said that the multiplicity of agencies dealing with malaria control had proved to be a big hurdle in achieving results. It was suggested that coordination committee meetings should be held at the level of chief secretary and the lieutenant governor.On the poor maintenance of drains, it was suggested that the health department should get these cleaned by awarding contracts. The need to keep overhead tanks covered was also stressed upon.Municipal Health Officer K.N. Tiwari, when asked how any of these suggestions could be implemented, said confidently: ``We will do it.'' When questioned on how he could do anything about dirty water, unpicked garbage and clogged drains which are beyond the jurisdiction of the health department, he said, ``We will keep on writing to the other departments and get the work done.''Tiwari said the symposium had left out the significant cause for the spread of diseases. ``No one spoke about personal hygiene. Basic practices like washing hands after defecation have to be instilled in the people. As for preventing people from defecating in the open, we should build more public toilets,'' he said.The municipal health officer added that the Urban Basic Services volunteers, who had been recruited by the Delhi government to control cholera and educate slum dwellers, were no longer doing their job. ``Had the volunteers been under the MCD we would have made better use of them".
