Health Minister Tapan Chakraborty said according to hospital records, 24 people had died so far and 50 others were admitted with ARI complications, adding that there was a possibility of few more unrecorded deaths outside the hospital. Unofficial reports said 28 people, including 17 children, had died.
The minister said initial investigation revealed that the deaths occurred due to failure of the health officials to contain the disease in the area and village panchayats were also to be blamed for their careless attitude.
''We are giving our best efforts to control the situation and we have launched investigation into the cause of spread of the disease and all the accused authorities will be dealt with as per law,'' Mr Chakraborty said.
Leader of the opposition Ratan Lal Nath, who visited the affected area, meanwhile, alleged that treatment was being provided by quack doctors and the unidentified disease was posing to be a major threat to the patients with the health care officials totally at a loss.
''They did not organise a single health camp during the past one year in the area and no doctors visited the village,'' he complained, adding that the villagers fell victim to the disease as they had been suffering from malnutrition, which aggravated the respiratory complications.
Mr Nath underlined that the only source of income of the villagers was shifting cultivation and the MGNREGA work but the scheme had not been properly implemented. During the past three months they worked only for six days under MGNREGA, he added.
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