Hepatitis death toll rises to 49 in Gujarat

Agencies

Ahmedabad: The death toll in the hepatitis-hit Modasa taluka of Sabarkantha rose to 49 on Thursday with one more death being reported, district health officials said.

"One more death has been reported today and 11 new cases have registered in Modasa taking the toll to 49," Sabarkanth Collector M Thennarasan said. He said that the health officials are still on alert and doing surveys to find new cases in the Modasa town and nearby villages.

Meanwhile, the Patan district health officials conducted inspections in various parts of the district and collected samples from the private clinics, sources said.

Authorities in hepatitis-hit Sabarakantha district have filed cases against doctors and scrap dealers after investigations revealed that the physicians sold used syringes and medical waste, police said on Thursday.

Medical waste, including used syringes, have to be disposed of, according to the Bio-Medical Waste (management and handling) Rules 1998.

But when the Sabarkantha Food and Drugs department raided the premises of the scrap dealers on Wednesday, they found used syringes, needles and medical waste in large quantity, which according to the scrap dealers was sold to them by some doctors, police said.

Savjibhai Rabari and Gulam Rasul are the scrap dealers who have been booked, they said.

The doctors against whom FIRs have been registered include Dr Haresh Shah, Dr Suresh Shah, Dr Dilip, Dr Prakash and Dr Jayesh, police said, adding that a compounder, Kantibhai, has also been booked.

All have been booked under section 269 of the Negligent Act (likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 278 (making atmosphere noxious to health) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), they said.