Food poisoning incident brings to fore poor healthcare facilities in hills

The recent food poisoning incident in Bageshwar district which claimed four lives and left over 300 people ill after a wedding feast has once again brought to the fore the poor state of primary healthcare services in the hill region of Uttarakhand.

Over 370 villagers and invitees who ate at a wedding feast in Baste village of the district fell ill last week showing symptoms of food poisoning.

They had to be admitted to hospitals in other districts such as Kapkot, Kanda, Almora, Pithoragarh and Haldwani as the health centres at Bageshwar alone were not able to tackle the situation.

Four people, including two children aged five years, died during treatment at different hospitals after the incident which was termed as a coincidence by Uttarkhand Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat.

Reacting to his remark, Lalit Pharswan, the former MLA from Kapkot, said, "What is total failure of the medical system is being termed as a coincidence by the minister only to escape responsibility for the ill managed healthcare facilities in remote hill areas."