Man lost wife to Indore water tragedy, dies in hospital 40 days later | Indore News
INDORE: Just eight days after Bhagirathpura resident Alguram Yadav spoke to TOI about losing his wife to diarrhoea caused by contaminated water, the 70-year-old was admitted to hospital with the same illness on Jan 9. On Friday, he died at a private hospital here, leaving his family to cope with two deaths in 40 days. Yadav’s wife Urmila, 65, had died on Dec 27 after developing diarrhoea. The district administration gave the grieving family compensation of Rs 2 lakh for her death. The district administration had conclusively linked Urmila’s death to diarrhoea spread in Bhagirathpura, while her husband’s death on Friday was yet not attributed to diarrhoea, with the official statement from Indore district administration saying he was suffering from multiple illnesses.
On Jan 1, when Yadav, who lived in Borasi Ki Gali in Bhagirathpura, recounted his ordeal to TOI, he described how the illness had swept through his home. His son Sanju, daughter-in-law Roshini, and 11-month-old grandson Shivam had all been hospitalised with the same symptoms that killed Urmila. They survived, but the family’s relief was short-lived.Eight days later, on Jan 9, Yadav himself was rushed to hospital with diarrhoea. “He was admitted with diarrhoea, the same symptoms that took my mother’s life. He was recovering in the hospital until he fell in the bathroom and sustained a fracture. He was then kept in the ICU, where he died,” Sanju said. Authorities disputed the cause of death. Chief medical and health officer Dr Madhav Hasani said, “A 70-year-old man died after prolonged treatment at Aurobindo Hospital. He suffered from previous paralysis and sustained a fracture in his right femur. He also suffered from other illnesses.” The water contamination crisis has devastated Bhagirathpura, a colony of over 15,000 people. The state govt has attributed 16 deaths to the outbreak and told the MP high court that six other deaths are being evaluated. In one case, the victim was from a different area.The govt had told the court that it paid compensation in 21 deaths, though all were not medically corroborated to have been caused by the water contamination.
