Health officials will visit Shella on Friday to take stock of a purported outbreak of typhoid in the area.
The issue was raised by the Hynñiewtrep Youths Council (HYC) on Tuesday when it wrote to the District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) of East Khasi Hills to complain about the alleged absence of lifesaving medicines at health centres serving the people of Shella and Ichamati.
The HYC said that a young child with high fever had visited Shella primary health centre on Tuesday and was diagnosed with typhoid. However, as the PHC does not have the required medicines, the child was referred to Ichamati community health centre some 15km away. Even that CHC, though, did not have the required medication and the boy was pointed towards Sohra CHC, which is 45km away from Shella.
In a reply to the pressure group today, the DMHO, Dr A Lyngdoh, said that there is currently a shortage of medicines due to the transition towards purchasing drugs through the newly-constituted Meghalaya Medical Drugs and Services Ltd.
A team from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) will visit Shella on Friday “to conduct an investigation for verification of the cases and identifying the source of illness”.
All facilities in the area have been told to conduct awareness campaigns on the symptoms, causes, treatments and prevention “of the diseases”.
