Uneasy sleep: A diarrhoea-stricken child in Assam

Guwahati, Oct. 24: Unicef has despatched a team of experts to Upper Assam to help healthcare workers tackle the outbreak of waterborne diseases that have killed over 100 tea garden workers in Jorhat, Sivasagar and Golaghat in the past two months.

A health department official said the administration realised the magnitude of the crisis “very late” since the deaths were “spaced out” and occurred across three districts. An alert was sounded in the three districts only after deaths in the tea belt were confirmed.

Hundreds of people are now being treated at the civil hospitals in accordance with Unicef guidelines.

As many as 60 tea workers have died in Jorhat district alone. Waterborne diseases, mostly diarrhoea, have assumed epidemic proportions in 18 tea gardens. The mortality rate is the highest in plantations owned by the state-run Assam Tea Corporation Ltd.

In neighbouring Golaghat district, waterborne diseases have claimed 36 lives in the last two months. Deaths have also been reported from the tea gardens in Charaideo subdivision of Sivasagar district. Five patients died in the past week.

The joint director of health services in Golaghat, M. Baruah, said a team of Unicef doctors was camping in the district to help his department tide over the crisis. The three-member Unicef team, led by George Corgetta from Argentina, has been visiting mostly tea gardens.

“We have opened a special ward at Golaghat Civil Hospital to deal with diarrhoea-related complications,” Baruah said.

His counterpart in Jorhat district, Ananta Neog, said health department workers had set up permanent camps in Katonibari and Khorikotia tea estates. Both plantations are owned by the Assam Tea Corporation Ltd. “The scenario is not encouraging but we are doing our best to control the epidemic,” Neog said.

Yesterday, the Jorhat administration summoned tea garden officials and laid out a set of guidelines to be followed regarding supply of drinking water and sanitation in the workers’ colonies. A campaign to raise awareness about hygiene was launched in tea gardens across all three districts.

The sub-divisional officer of Charaideo said a team of doctors was visiting the worst-affected tea estate, Borasoli, regularly. “We have temporarily banned the sale of fish to prevent illiterate people from consuming diseased flesh,” he added.

Healthcare experts said the reluctance of tea garden workers to maintain hygiene was responsible for most epidemics. On the other hand, the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association blamed the government and tea companies for their plight.

“Workers depend mostly on natural water sources because their employers do not ensure supply of potable water. The government officials who visit these gardens are bribed to keep quiet,” the general secretary of the association, Pallav Lochan Das, said.