JAMMU, Jan 12: Two children of a family died and their four other siblings were hospitalized after they fell seriously ill due to some ‘mysterious disease’ at the village in Budhal where massive `health- crisis’ continued to haunt villagers in district Rajouri, taking death toll to 10 so far in last one month while the Health authorities in the JKUT remained clueless.
Both the siblings belonged to Larkoti hamlet in Badhaal village of Budhal tehsil in Kotranka sub-division of Rajouri district where eight members of two different families had lost their lives due to a mysterious disease in December last year, Director Health Services, Dr Rakesh Magotra said.
Director Health further said that while the girl died at around 1 pm and the boy- her brother, at around 7.50 pm at SMGS Associated hospital of GMC Jammu today. The condition of two children is said to be serious, he added.A senior District Health official at Rajouri said that six children of Mohammad Aslam, hailing from Badhaal village in Budhal, were brought to Community Health Centre Kandi (Kotranka) for medical check-up on Saturday evening. They had the symptoms like fever, sweating, vomiting, dehydration, episodic loss of consciousness etc.The children were initially referred to the Government Medical College (GMC), Associated Hospital in Rajouri and later four of them were shifted to SMGS Hospital (GMC) Jammu where the girl, Naveena Kouser (8 yrs) breathed her last at 1.05 pm while her brother, Zahoor Ahmed (14 yrs) at around 7.50 pm on Sunday.
The official said two of the siblings were under treatment in the Isolation Ward of GMC Rajouri. The condition of two in Jammu was said to be serious this evening. They both were kept in the Intensive Care Unit of the GMC Jammu. He further added that two others admitted in Rajouri hospital are also being shifted to GMC Jammu late this evening.
The remaining four ailing children of Mohd Aslam, undergoing treatment in GMC Jammu are – Yasmeen Akhtar (15 yrs), Mohd Maroof (10 Yrs), Zabina Kouser (9 yrs) and Safina Kouser (6 ys).
Dr Harjeet Rai, the Nodal Officer of DHS Jammu said that preliminary investigations had pointed towards viral infection as the cause behind the mysterious deaths but said that the final conclusion was yet awaited. He said District Health authorities team led by CMO ML Rana was camping at the village. Moreover, various teams of experts from Pune’s National Institute of Virology, PGI Chandigarh, AIIMS Delhi and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, had also visited the village to assist in the investigations.
Replying to a question, Dr Rai said the report from the J&K Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) is yet awaited. They usually take four to six weeks of time for performing different tests. However, the visiting teams have not reached up to any conclusion so far, he added.Meanwhile, Rajouri Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Sharma along with Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Rajouri-Poonch Range, Tejinder Singh and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Rajouri Gaurav Sikarwar visited Badhaal village to assess the ground situation today. They spoke to the villagers and some relatives of the ailing children. This family and the previous one who had lost their members under similar conditions at Badhaal are said to be in relations.
This incident has drawn unsettling parallels with a similar tragedy in December 2024 ( Initially on Dec 7 and 12), when eight members of a related family in the same village died under mysterious circumstances.
Scared over the ‘mysterious disease’, the local residents have expressed anger and frustration, alleging serious lapses in the Health department’s response. They criticized the delay in shifting the affected individuals to advanced healthcare facilities and the failure of the health surveillance teams to identify the crisis before it escalated. The community firmly believes that a more proactive approach could have saved these two precious lives and prevented the current health emergency.
The inefficiency of the health surveillance system has sparked outrage, with locals demanding accountability from the concerned officials, particularly the CMO Rajouri and the top Health officials from top to bottom. “Had the surveillance teams been active, this tragedy could have been averted,” a resident remarked, highlighting the lack of preventive action.
This incident underscores the urgent need for robust healthcare systems and active surveillance in remote areas like Badhal to prevent such tragedies and ensure timely medical intervention for vulnerable communities.
