JAMMU , Jan 15: While another child died in GMC Jammu late this evening due to mysterious disease in Rajouri, the police constituted an 11-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the mysterious deaths that have been reported in the Badhaal area of Rajouri district in the last about 40 days.With the death of 5th child of Mohd Aslam- Zabeena Kouser-10 yrs, in the SMGS Hospital, an associated hospital of GMC Jammu at 9.10 pm on Wednesday , the death toll due to mysterious disease in Badhaal village of Kotranka Sub Division in Rajouri, has reached up to 15.
Medical Superintendent of the SMGS Hospital, Dr Dara Singh confirmed the fifth death of the child of Mohd Aslam hailing from Badhaal village tonight. He claimed that the condition of her sister- Yasmeen Kouser (15), was also serious. She has been kept in the ICU of the GMC Jammu and senior doctors are monitoring her, Dr Singh added.
Sources said that a Central team has been camping in Rajouri and it visited the affected village. The team also talked to the villagers, relatives of the deceased persons and medical staff deputed there.
The team had also meeting with the Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri Abhishek Sharma, Principal GMC Rajouri, Dr A S Bhatia and CMO Rajouri M L Rana. The team members took feedback from them.
With the increasing number of deaths, a fresh panic has gripped the entire area. The villagers are panicky with fresh unfortunate developments and many have shifted to their relatives in some other areas. Many moved their children to other areas to stay with their relatives for some time. The villagers alleged that Government has failed to investigate the cause of these deaths. They have warned to launch united agitation at Kotranka Health Institution.
Meanwhile, SSP Rajouri, Gaurav Sikarwar has constituted the SIT headed by Superintendent of Police (Operations), Budhal, Wajahat Hussain.
The other members of the SIT include the Deputy Superintendent of Police Kandi, Vikram Sarmhal; Station House Officer of Police Station Kandi- Insp Abrar Khan; SHO Women’s Police Station Rajouri – Insp Sushma Thakur; Insp Rajeev Kumar from DPL Rajouri, PSI Pankaj Sharma, ASI Pawan Sharma and officials and experts from Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Microbiology, Pediatrics and Pathology departments.
According to the SSP’s order, the team will utilize the expertise of professionals from the food safety, agriculture, and Jal Shakti departments, as well as the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Jammu.
“The team will make all sincere efforts to work out the inquest proceedings to its logical conclusion at an earliest,” the order of SSP Rajouri said.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Health and Medical Education, Social Welfare and Education, Sakeena Itoo, today said that investigations are underway to ascertain the actual cause behind these unfortunate deaths.
While speaking on the issue, Itoo said that the entire team of health department visited the affected village and checked more than three thousand people door-to-door. She added that the teams collected samples of all kinds like water, food etc. and sent the same for tests.
The Minister added that all the tests have been diagnosed negative. “All the sample tests that have been taken, whether it is water, food grains, rest of the things, they used there including biscuits, whatever it is and all reports were found negative”, Itoo said. She added that even all the influenza tests have also been diagnosed as negative.
She further said that the Health department got some samples tested outside through national institutes like ICMR, National Institute of Virology, National Centre for Disease control, CSIR, DRDO, PGIMER Chandigarh and others and all reports were found negative.
The Minister further added that the deaths were among the three families in total living at a distance of one and a half kilometers from each other. She said during these 40 days, the Health department kept all facilities available in the affected area like ambulances, medicines and other essential drugs to meet any exigency.
“In 40 days, God forbid, a COVID disease comes, or some other infectious disease happens, it spreads. But there is no health-related issue found till date”, Sakeena said.
The Minister continued that the matter is under investigation now and the police department and district administration will investigate further what the real issue is.
Sakeena expressed deepest condolences with the families of the deceased and assured the public that the government is treating this matter with the utmost urgency and seriousness.
“The well-being of our citizens is our top priority and we will leave no stone unturned in uncovering the root cause behind these tragic deaths”, the Minister maintained.
She appealed the public to remain calm and extend full support to the district administration during investigation being carried out to ascertain the actual cause of deaths.
