Pall of gloom once again descended on Badhaal village
People living in terror, administration/ health department helpless
No new case of mystery illness reported today from Badhaal: Health officials
Shyam Sood
Rajouri, January 15: Once again pall of gloom descended on Badhaal village in Rajouri district on Wednesday when the 5th child of Mohd Aslam succumbed to mystery illness at about 9 pm in SMGS hospital in Jammu.
The deceased has been identified as Zabina Kousar (10 years). Other children of Mohd Aslam who died include Zahoor Ahmed (14 yrs), Mohd Maroof (10 yrs), Naveena Kousar (8 years), & Safina Kousar (6 yrs). The last and 6th minor daughter of Mohd Aslam namely Yasmeen Akhter (16 years) is also under treatment in SMGS hospital. Father & mother of these children are hapless and & couldn’t attend last rites of 5 children, including two sons, and praying for the life of Yasmeen at SMGS for the last 3-days.
Health officials informed that no new case of mystery illness reported today from Badhaal area.
“The grandmother of these children is in a state of shock. Hear condition is stable but she is in depression and is at home” said health officials.
On January 12, Mohd Aslam, his wife and four children (two sons & 2 daughters) had taken Sweat Rice in a ‘Khatm’ function organised by the father of Fazal Hussain
Fazal Hussain and his four minor children died between December 7 & 10 children due to alleged mysterious disease and since then Fazal Hussain’s father organised ‘Khatm’ on every Thursday in their memory.
Fazal Hussain was the brother in-law of Fazal Hussain and was adopted by his maternal uncle Mohd Yousuf (62) who also died due to mystery illness on Monday. At about midnight of Thursday & Friday (1.30 am), all the six children of Mohd Aslam fell sick with symptoms of fever, sweating, vomiting, dehydration etc. and were rushed to Associated Hospital Government Medical College (AH GMC) Rajouri and later sent to SMGS hospital in Jammu for further management.
During the last 3 days five children have succumbed to mystery illness and the 6th child namely Yasmeen is still under treatment in SMGS and her condition is also serious.
Meanwhile on the direction of Government of India a team of experts from prominent health institutions, including National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and National Institute of Virology (NIV), DRDO, CSIP etc, have reached Rajouri and held a meeting with district administration/ health department for further action in this matter.
With the death of Zabina Kousar on Wednesday, the death toll in Badhaal village has risen to 14.
On December 23 one pregnant woman Razeem Akhter w/o Mohd Rafiq resident of Badhaal (mother of three children who died between December 12 & 19) died in GMC Rajouri due to doctor’s negligence.
