Bottled water’s what the doctor ordered

Packaged drinking water sales are up in a pocket of Santacruz (west). Almost the entire neighbourhood near Asha Parekh Hospital is buying bottled water, what with several cases of diarrhoea being reported everyday. In the Sushila Baug Co-operative Housing Society, the disease has struck 35 of the 60 families since July-end.

“Residents come to us with severe abdominal pain and diarrhoea. They complain of getting murky water from the civic body, and electric purifiers have not helped. We advised them to boil water to kill the amoebae, but that didn’t work either. So we have asked them to use packaged water for drinking and cooking purposes,” said Dr Kokila Matani, a general physician practising in the area.

Dr Matani has been getting diarrhoea cases from buildings near Podar World School and SV Road.

While families there have switched to packaged water, civic officials have advised them to keep taps running for at least 15 minutes before using or storing water. 
 
“It is of no use. We still get murky water smelling of sewage,” said Hina Ved, a resident of the B-wing at Sushila Baug.

Two-year-old Aditya from Sushila Baug has just recuperated from diarrhoea at Nanavati hospital. “He is not the only one from our family to have had diarrhoea. I too had it for three days. At least three members from each family in the building have suffered from the disease,” said Tara Singh, the boy’s grandfather.

Senior citizen Jyoti Matani has been infected twice. “I was so dehydrated and weak that I thought I was dying. I was like a zombie for days. My husband, too, had it, but he recovered soon,” she said.

When contacted, Srinivas Mulgundkar, acting assistant municipal commissioner, told DNA, “There is no need for residents to use packaged drinking water. We take contamination and cases of leakage on priority basis. I will get the problem fixed immediately.”