Ranchi Water Contamination: Skin, Hair, and GI Ailments Rise Amidst Health Concerns

Ranchi: Medical practitioners across govt and private hospitals in the city said they have been attending to patients reporting with skin infections, hair-related problems, and gastrointestinal ailments. Prolonged exposure to contaminated or impure water, raising serious concerns over the quality and safety of drinking and domestic water supply in the state capital.

said a significant number of patients complain of rashes, itching, hair fall, stomach infections and diarrhoeal issues.

Dr Ritu Rashi, a Ranchi-based physician, said that every day, nearly 10-20% of the patients who visit her for consultation report ailments linked to the consumption of contaminated water. She said that the number of patients reporting such ailments increases during the monsoon.

“There are several reasons for the frequent reporting of water-borne diseases. One of the primary causes is the consumption of contaminated water either in homes or outside. In many parts of the city, household water pipelines pass through garbage-filled drains. If these pipes develop leaks, sewage can seep into the supply, allowing bacteria and other harmful organisms to contaminate the water and cause illness,” the doctor said.

She added that poor hygiene practices, particularly among middle-income groups in some cases, also contribute to diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid, jaundice and cholera.

“Working professionals who often consume water from unsafe sources outside their homes are also at higher risk. People must be cautious and take water only after boiling it for 10-20 minutes to avert contracting such ailments,” she said.

Shubham Kumar, a working professional who stays in rented accommodation said, "In October last year, I had to get hospitalised after having diarrhea and vomiting issues. When doctors suspected it to be due to consumption of impure water, I stopped drinking tap water and started purchasing packaged water. Since then luckily, I have not fallen ill."

Apart from reporting gastrointestinal diseases, the use of impure water has emerged as one of the reasons behind many skin and hair fall-related issues.

Dr Prabhat Kumar, head of the dermatology department at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, said that hair fall among the youngsters has been regularly reported at the dermatology OPD.

Dr Kumar said that although the quality of water is not the sole factor behind the hair fall issues, it is one of the main factors. The condition is mainly prevalent among young adults, mostly coming from other areas of the state or country, to Ranchi for the first time.

“It is suspected that there is a high concentration of iron in Ranchi’s groundwater and which plays a factor leading to the situation. However, there are other reasons, such as diet, stress due to academic pressure and various other factors are also associated with it,” Kumar added.