Times of India, Aug 31, 2007
BHUBANESWAR: Cholera and diarrhoea, having assumed epidemic proportions in three tribal dominated Orissa districts, have so far claimed 164 lives as officials confirmed five more deaths in worst-hit Koraput on Thursday.
The death toll, which had mounted to 159 on Wednesday, further rose to 164 with confirmation of five casualties in Dasmantpur block of Koraput district, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) R K Agarwal said.
While the toll in Koraput district went up to 73, the situation remained by and large unchanged in Rayagada with 64 casualties as the killer diseases claimed as many as 27 lives in Kalahandi, official sources said.
The water-borne diseases had assumed epidemic form in nine blocks of these three backward districts located adjacent to each other though separated by hills and the waterspread of the vast Indravati reservoir.
Despite state government's claim to have effectively controlled the spread of the diseases, residents of the affected areas alleged that the administration had failed to provide adequate medical facilities to the patients.
Though state Congress president Jayadev Jena and former chief minister Giridhar Gamang, also MP from Koraput, demanded immediate declaration of epidemic in affected districts, state Revenue Minister Manmohan Samal, who visited cholera-hit areas, rejected it claiming the situation was very much under control and there was no need for panic.
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