Doctors have diagnosed more than 1,000 acute diarrhoea cases in relief camps in the flood-ravaged plains of northern India, and at least six more people have died of complications from the disease, a health official said Saturday.
More than 1.2 million people were driven from their homes in India's impoverished Bihar state by the flooding, and about 300,000 are still living in 326 state-run relief camps where doctors are working to prevent disease outbreaks.
Deepak Kumar, the state health secretary, confirmed the six new deaths and more than 1,000 diarrhoea cases in relief camps, but said authorities had enough medicine to treat the flood refugees.
Authorities have confirmed 48 deaths from the flooding, but it is widely believed that the final toll will be much higher.
Floodwater has drained out of nearly 250 villages, but 750 others are still under up to four feet of water in Bihar's five worst-hit districts, state disaster management official Prataya Amrit said Friday.