Doctors have blamed excessive heat and intake of contaminated water for the outbreak of the disease but hastened to add that it was not unusual during the early summer when the temperature shoots up. People tend to drink more water during the hot days and since pure water is hardly available they expose themselves to all sorts of water-borne diseases. Administering of ORS is the simplest treatment of diarrohoea. However, fatalities are still occurring as people are not aware of the treatment method or the need for responding quickly to the fast loss of fluids which results in life-threatening dehydration. So greater alertness has to be created among the masses on management of diarrhoea.

Prevention of the disease is of course the much better option here. Unfortunately, the water supplied by WASA is not safe enough for regular consumption. Water purification methods have to be adopted by both the suppliers and consumers. Public health experts prescribe the simple method of drinking boiled water. But it seems a large chunk of the population is still not showing enough sensitivity to the issue of drinking boiled water. The great number of diarrhoea patients only confirms the unpleasant truth.

It is evident that we are still heavily dependent on nature's clemency to bail us out of any difficult situation. For example, it has been forecast that the weather will cool down a bit in the next few days when rain and thundershowers will help bring down the temperature. That is expected to have a positive impact on the diarrhoea situation. No doubt, the changes in nature will affect human life, but better preparedness and awareness can always minimise the sufferings of people. The situation prevailing in the hospitals at the moment shows that people were not prepared for or aware of such an outbreak of the disease. The health authorities should address the issue with a view to ensuring better compliance with hygiene standards that will help prevent outbreak of such diseases.