Diarrhoea kills 4 children, attacks 500 in Tangail

The waterborne disease is also spreading fast in Madhupur and Ghatail upazilas of the district.

The dead are Romij Miah, 11, and Arif Hossen, 13, of Porabari village, Sabina Yasmin, 14, of Ramnagar village and Rubina Khatun, 8, of Uttar Dhopakandi village in Gopalpur.

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The worst affected areas of the upazila are: Gopalpur pourasabha area, Dhopakandi, Jhaoail, Nagda Shimla and Alamnagar.

While visiting the Gopalpur Upazila Health Complex, it was found diarrhoea patients were being treated at the hospital's floor, corridor and

entrance in an unhygienic condition.

Some relatives of the patients alleged that they had to buy oral saline and other medicine from outside the hospital.

With the latest casualties, the death toll in diarrhoea rose to 26 including 12 children across the district in last two months.

The District Health Control Room sources however confirmed only 14 deaths from diarrhoea claiming that 12 others died from pneumonia, food poisoning and other diseases.

"We have adequate supply of oral saline and other medicine in our store and 117 medical teams are working across the district to combat the disease", an official at the Tangail Civil Surgeon Office said.