On-ground doctors warn of disease outbreak

A number of doctors have left the safe confines of their clinics and have attached themselves to relief camps and mobile medical centres to treat flood victims. Dr J S Rajkumar of Lifeline group of hospitals says that casualties due to infections will rise over the next few days. “When we went to a camp, out of 400 people, close to a hundred were suffering from fever, which is a representation of infections. There is also a huge worry of leptospirosis, caused by rat urine, as drinking water gets contaminated by sewage. Stagnant water can lead to diseases like malaria. For diabetics, even small cuts can turn into septic wounds, leading to amputation,” he says. 

The need of the hour is to treat all infections aggressively. We are definitely in for a tough time ahead as deaths caused due to diseases will be more than the toll due to rain,” he says, advising strict adherence to personal cleanliness and safety measures like drinking boiled water. People must watch out for viral and bacterial infections, which will affect children and elderly people. Vomiting and diarrhoea, especially in children, can turn quite serious, he adds.

Dr Roshan Santosham, who has been conducting medical camps in areas like Teynampet, Puliantope, Vyasarpad, Velacherry, Royapettai and Chetpet, says poor sanitation is a huge worry for the medical teams. 

“Recently, I was at Vyasarpadi and I saw people sleeping in the slush. The water has not receded fully but most people have gone back to their homes. Sanitation was bad. So apart from medical aid, we were also providing health education on cleanliness and sanitation. Soon, we will also start giving out vaccinations to control outbreak of diseases,” he points out. 

C K Kumaravel, who owns a popular chain of salons, has been conducting camps all across Chennai, with 30 doctors from PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore. He says first aid and preventive medicine is top priority. 

“Since it was still raining, we focussed on giving first aid to those who need it. The hardest hit are patients with dialysis concerns and pregnant women. There is enough food available. We need other essentials like medicines, drinking water and change of clothes,” he says, adding that availability of medicines was not really a problem. 

“Thanks to social media, we were able to procure basic medicines easily. We need to channelize the relief aid, so those who need it can get immediate help,” he concludes.