PANAJI
Even as the flow of severe diarrhoea and dehydration cases among workers on fishing boats at the Cutbona jetty has slowed down, health officials are keeping a close watch on the precautionary measures there fearing a possible rise in cases if the guard is lowered.
State Epidemiologist Dr Utkarsh Betodkar said the numbers have dwindled and the count of workers treated for diarrhoea over the last month has plateaued at 35. Only one case was confirmed as ‘cholera’ and another worker, a native of Odisha, died exactly a week ago with doctors at the South Goa District Hospital at Margao declaring him ‘brought dead’ before admission.
Curiously, the same worker who died had been brought to the same hospital about 10 days earlier and was admitted with severe diarrhoea and dehydration. But he was discharged after being treated back to fitness for five days.
Dr Suryavanshi said that the situation at the jetty in Cutbona and all other fishing jetties where large number of migrants work and also stay in shanties are being closely monitored. He also said that unlike last year when there was an outbreak of cholera claiming five lives and hundreds of milder cases accompanied with severe diarrhoea and dehydration, it cannot be classified as an ‘outbreak’ this year.
