In season of disease, Telangana runs out of chlorine tablets

Hyderabad: Chlorine tablets, which are distributed to purify water in cases of sporadic cholera, diarrhoea and gastroenteritis, are not available with the health department. These tablets are distributed to patients’ families and neighbours once cases are reported in an area, to purify the water. A senior health official said, “Ten lakh tablets are required for Hyderabad and about 5 lakh for Ranga Reddy. The tablets have a shelf life of six months. Hence large stocks can’t be kept. There are no tablets now and till stocks are available, preventive counselling for patients and their family members can’t be carried out.”

After coming under fire for not collecting water samples, the district medical and health officials stated that they had no tablets to carry out further works. A senior doctor of the department on condition of anonymity said, “Five cases were reported in June. These reports were forwarded to the local medical officer. But as he has to collect drinking water samples and also give preventive measures, he decided to wait till the stocks were replenished. As that has still not been done, the water samples were also not collected.”

After a hue and cry, officers on Monday collected water samples to submit to the Institute of Preventive Medicine for testing. District medical and health officers have sent four reminders to the Telangana Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation about the chlorine tablets. The first reminder was in April 2016. Officials at TSMSIDC however claim that the shortage is from the manufacturer’s side. They say that there are few manufacturers of these tablets and they have promised to replenish stocks by early next week.