Mystery shrouds death of 8 villagers

AMRAVATI: Mystery shrouds the death of eight people in Haram village, Amravati district, last week. While the villagers say that the deaths are due to an outbreak of an epidemic, following floods, doctors ruled out the villagers claims and say that the reason behind the deaths was due to different ailments.
Sources claimed that the epidemic which had spread in Amravati district ravaged various villages.In Haram village, eight people—including Dewakabai Barabde, Shipla Neware, Jairam Sinhale, Sadashiv Wadode, Sulemankhan Pathan, Pundalik Khadase and Bhaskar Akolakar—died. Nilesh Thakare, a youth from the same village, is undergoing treatment at Amravati and his condition is said to be critical.
The serial deaths in the village have instilled fear among the villagers. District malaria officer Dr S M Tarodkar, along with tehsil health officer Dr Satish Pradhan, Dr Dilip Charhate and medical officer of Pathrot primary health centre Dr Pranali Deshmukh visited Haram village. The team of doctors inspected the village and initiated steps to improve sanitary conditions of the village.
At present, five health department teams are working in the village. According to a team of doctors, who visited the village, the reason behind the deaths wasn’t due to any epidemic. Doctors say that the deaths were caused due to stomach ache, high blood pressure, old age and kidney ailments. Only the death of a girl Shipla was due to viral fever, the doctors said and added that they have collected blood samples of villagers. The villagers have been told to maintain proper hygiene in the village, doctors said.