Sept. 2: The visiting team of directorate general of health services, New Delhi, has found cholera as endemic in nature in many parts of the city, particularly in slums.

The central team led by Dipankar Das , which has been visiting several cholera and diarrhoea affected areas in the city for the past several days, informed the health department that cholera germ persist to a greater or lesser degrees in the slums and some other areas.

“Though cholera has not taken an epidemic form, there is no scope for complacency and the government has to make sustained efforts to eradicate the disease and prevent it from spinning out of control. Since cholera has been found to be endemic in nature, there is every chance of the virus spreading to other areas if necessary preventive measures are not taken,” a source quoting the team said.

The central team, which is closely monitoring the situation, has advised the health department, the Kamrup (metro) district administration and the Guwahati Municipal Corporation to chalk out long-term steps like cleaning up of slums at frequent intervals, constant sensitisation of slum dwellers, weekly health camps and proper drainage facilities.

It has also stressed the need to check mushrooming of slums.

Gauhati Medical College and Hospital has found cholera strain Vibrio cholerae ogawa in stool samples of five residents of Padumpukhuri area of Uzan Bazar.

The residents of Uzan Bazar complained that they were getting contaminated water because of leaks in the GMC’s drinking water pipelines. Silted drains and poor sanitation in Harijan Colony located nearby invited more trouble, they alleged.

“The central team is satisfied with measures taken so far to control the disease. It, however, wants that the steps to be carried out in a sustained manner. The team will meet chief minister Tarun Gogoi and health and family welfare minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to apprise them of its findings on cholera,” a health department official said.

Deputy commissioner Avinash Joshi said all possible steps had been initiated to prevent the outbreak of cholera in epidemic form.

“There is no question of being complacent and a blueprint has been already chalked out to carry out sustained effort to eradicate the disease,” he said.

Gogoi has instructed the administration to shift the inhabitants of slum areas to safer places in a phased manner.

He said the government would soon implement a project to improve living conditions in the slums.

The government will set up three model slums.

The GMC has already constituted health and sanitation committees in 26 designated slums.