11-year-old boy from migrant worker family succumbs to diarrhoea in Chennai

CHENNAI: An 11-year-old boy from Bihar  succumbed to diarrhoea, suspected to have been caused by contaminated drinking water in Saidapet on Saturday.

The deceased is identified as R Yuvaraj. His sister Meera Kumari (7) is also being treated for diarrhoea but is stable.

The incident had also created a political debate in the state with the leader of opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami demanding contamination free drinking water for Chennaiittes.

Following the incident, Chennai Corporation had kick started health camps in Saidapet and the Chennai metro water has started collecting drinking water samples in the locality.

According to sources, the family from Bihar returned to Chennai 10 days ago, and during inquiry it has revealed that the children have eaten outside and later developed diarrhea.

On Thursday, the boy was taken to Kalaignar Centenary Hospital and later admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. His sister also complained of the same issues. However, the sister's health is stable and should be discharged soon.

"In order to prevent any such deaths, the health department along with Greater Chennai Corporation has organised a health camp in the area. The civic body is planning to organise health camps in places where migrant workers employed in construction sites are residing. The postmortem report is awaited," said local MLA and health minister Ma Subramanian after inspecting parts coming under his constituency.

The drinking water contamination is being checked for the past one week and as of now.

The metro water board is also testing the samples. The food safety Commissioner is also taking the samples for further examination.

Following the incident, GCC commissioner J Radhakrishnan inspected the area. He said that the local body has carried out various prevention measures such as spray with lysol in door to door, bleaching powder sprinkled on the street, door to door survey was done and ORS and Doxy tablets distributed.

The metro water board will conduct a baseline survey from July 1 for 60 days where drinking water would be collected across the city.

It may be noted that there were media reports stating water contamination in parts of Choolaimedu, Chintadripet, Purasaiwakkam and Saidapet.

Chengalpet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur Government hospitals have also been recording diahorea cases over the past few weeks.