09:24 PM
Friday, September 20, 2024
Governorates – Masrawy:
“Help us, we are dying.” These are the cries for help issued by a number of Aswan residents in the past few days, after the emergence of a mysterious disease that caused a number of citizens to suffer from severe intestinal infections and resulted in the death of 6 cases, according to them.
According to an official in the Aswan Health Directorate, 28 cases were detained in the University, Al-Masalla, New Friendship, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Daraw and Nasr Al-Nubia hospitals, due to intestinal infections caused by seasonal viruses or eating contaminated food.
Engineer Ahmed Abdel Malek, an engineer at a chemical factory and a resident of Abu Al-Raishn village, said: “The drinking water in the village and the surrounding villages is polluted, and every day we take dozens of cases to fever hospitals. In our village and the surrounding villages, the number of deaths has reached 6 cases, and I do not know why the officials deny it?” He demanded that the issue be referred to the Public Prosecution to address the problem before it turns into a disaster.
Madbouly intervenes
In turn, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, directed the concerned authorities, led by Major General Ismail Kamal, Governor of Aswan, to reach the main cause of these symptoms, and deal with patients appropriately to provide treatment services.
The Ministry of Health sent a central team from the Preventive Medicine Sector to Aswan Governorate to uncover the causes of this mysterious disease.
Drinking water analysis
In the same context, Eng. Abdel Sabour Al-Rawi, Chairman of the Aswan Drinking Water and Wastewater Company, revealed that he went with the Central Laboratory Authority and a specialized committee from the Health Directorate to the Abu Al-Rish Qibli water station in response to a complaint of pollution. Water samples were taken and it was found that the chlorine concentration in it conformed to specifications. Samples were also taken from the village network in various streets and were also found to conform to specifications. The Raqaba 1 and 2 stations were also visited and samples were taken, and they were also found to conform to specifications as in the Abu Al-Rish Qibli station.
The narrator confirmed that the aforementioned stations produce water according to the required standards in accordance with the Ministry of Health Resolution No. (458) of 2007, and the committee members drank water directly from those stations in front of the citizens to confirm its suitability, calling on the citizens not to be led by the rumors that some people are spreading on social media.
Water is potable
Dr. Mohamed Saeed, Director General of Health in Aswan, said that what is being said about cases of poisoning and the death of 6 people due to water pollution is completely false, stressing that there are no cases of poisoning or intestinal infections due to drinking water pollution in these areas or others within the governorate, which if it happened, the number of infected cases would be in the thousands.
He stressed that the number of detainees in the University, Al-Masalla, New Friendship, Edfu, Kom Ombo, Daraw and Nasr Al-Nubia hospitals does not exceed 28 cases suffering from intestinal infections due to seasonal viruses or eating contaminated food, and this is normal during this period of the summer.
The Aswan Health Care Authority also denied what was circulated on some social media outlets about allocating one of the floors of Aswan Specialized Hospital in New Friendship to receive cases of poisoning due to contaminated drinking water.
The Authority stated in a statement that the fourth floor of the hospital was vacated some time ago as part of a plan to increase the number of beds available in the hospital, after some of its rooms were used as housing for doctors.
Daraw Central Hospital
Earlier today, Friday, Dr. Amr Qandil, Deputy Minister of Health and Population, and Eng. Amr Lashin, Deputy Governor, inspected Daraw Central Hospital to check on the patients suffering from intestinal flu.
Qandil and Lashin also visited a number of residents in the villages of Banban and Al-Raqaba in Daraw to reassure the injured and confirm that the drinking water samples that were taken from stations, filters and homes to conduct laboratory tests proved that they were safe and conform to standard specifications, and that there were no changes in them.
The Deputy Minister of Health and the Deputy Governor of Aswan also informed the residents and educated them on the proper methods that must be followed to overcome intestinal infections.
Health Speaker Tips
For his part, Dr. Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health, revealed in a television statement that the central team is still working accurately and scientifically to reach the main reasons for the spread of these symptoms in the past days. He stated that there are no microbiological changes in the drinking water in Aswan, and the initial indicators of examining the samples confirm that there are no changes related to the presence of any specific bacteria in the water or in the food samples that were taken from street vendors.
The health spokesman pointed out the improvement in cases of digestive system symptoms, as a result of the efforts of the Ministry of Health in dealing with these cases, providing advice to citizens to prevent digestive system diseases, by washing hands before and after eating, cooking food well, washing fruits and vegetables and ensuring the cleanliness of food, not eating food from street vendors, and obtaining food from safe sources.