Kathmandu, September 16

In a bid to contain spread of cholera, Kathmandu and Lalitpur district public health offices said they had chlorinated hundreds of wells in the disease-hit areas.

Lalitpur and Kathmandu DPHOs took the step after cholera strains were detected in wells of Kathmandu and Lalitpur.

The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division of the Department of Health Services stated that 144 diarrhoea patients of Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts who were admitted in hospitals of the Valley had tested positive for cholera.

“We have chlorinated over 400 wells of Thankot-Matatirtha area,” Bhogendra Dotel, chief of Kathmandu DPHO, said. He added that chlorination was a popular method to disinfect contaminated water. He said 19 diarrhoea patients from the area had tested positive for cholera.

According to Dotel, DPHO had deployed health workers to collect water samples from wells and taps of the disease-hit areas, following cholera outbreak in the capital.

The water samples were examined in National Public Health Laboratory of the Department of Health Services, which found that well water in disease-hit areas tested positive for O1 Ogawa bacteria.

DPHO Lalitpur claimed that it had chlorinated hundreds of wells to check the spread of cholera. “We have chlorinated wells from Godawari to Kupondol areas,” Jhalak Sharma, Chief of Lalitpur DPHO, said.

He said Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City had also chlorinated wells and stone spouts. Water from stone spouts, that supplied by Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Ltd, a government entity that supplies drinking water to household taps, and the water supplied by private tanker operators was found to be contaminated.

The DPHO said 110 diarrhoea patients of the district had tested positive for cholera, which has been spreading in the district for the last two months.

“We have placed signboards warning people against using stone spout water, particularly those stone spouts where contaminated water was found,” added Sharma.

DPHO has also provided chlorine and soaps to female community health volunteers for distribution in disease-hit areas.