Deaths due to contaminated water on decline in country: Minister

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) Deaths in the country due to consumption of contaminated water are on the decline, the government informed the Rajya Sabha.

A total of 2,595 people lost their lives in 2013 due to water-borne diseases like cholera, acute diarrhoeal diseases (ADD), enteric fever (typhoid) and viral hepatitis in different states, with these figures pegged at 2,164 in 2014 and 1,465 till September 2015, Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda told Jharkhand MP Parimal Nathwani during Question Hour on Tuesday.

In Jharkhand, the number of deaths due to consumption of contaminated water has gone down from 66 in 2013 to 55 in 2014 and four in 2015, Nadda said.

Jharkhand has not witnessed any death due to cholera in the last three years.

Similarly, deaths due to ADD had come down to 1,323 in 2014 and 889 in 2015 in different states. In Jharkhand, the number of ADD deaths rose from four in 2013 to 28 in 2014 but came down to zero in 2015, said the minister.

Deaths due to typhoid increased from 387 in 2013 to 429 in 2014 but came down to 296 in 2015 in the country. Jharkhand registered seven deaths each in 2013 and 2014, while three people died of typhoid in 2015.

Viral hepatitis caused 574 deaths in 2013, 407 in 2014 and 275 in 2015 in the country. In case of Jharkhand, deaths due to viral hepatitis stood at 65 in 2013, 20 in 2014 and zero in 2015.

Nathwani wanted to know about the deaths on account of consumption of contaminated water, particularly arsenic-contaminated water reported from across the country and steps taken by the government to check such deaths.

According to a statement tabled in the house, the National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi, provides technical assistance to state/union territories on prevention and control of water-borne diseases under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.

At the national level, the NCDC coordinates laboratory support for outbreak investigations, besides conducting regular training courses for development of trained manpower, said the statement.