The people had started falling ill last week reportedly after drinking contaminated water.
Highlights
- Dead include 7 children; reportedly drank contaminated water
- Another 3 children are in critical condition
- This is the government's failure: opposition leader Sachin Pilot
Eleven people with special needs, including seven children, who were staying at a government-run home in Rajasthan's Jamdoli have died, reportedly after drinking contaminated water.
Another three children are in critical condition at a hospital in Jaipur, 18 km from the home where they fell sick.
People at the home started falling ill on April 18 with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea following which they were then brought to a hospital in Jaipur.
Over the next week, between April 21 and yesterday, 11 of the 15 people died. Seven of those who have died were under 15 years of age with the youngest child just eight.
Doctor Ashok Gupta at the JK Lon Hospital told NDTV, "They all had similar complaints diarrhoea, vomiting, and some of them had gone into shock. From a clinical perspective, the children had some kind of infection. They went into septic shock. As children who are physically and mentally challenged, they had a weak immune system."
Most of the children who have fallen ill suffer from cerebral palsy, said doctors attending to them at the hospital.
The Social Welfare Minister Arun Chaturvedi visited the home at Jamdoli this morning. "A three-member inquiry committee has been formed to find out the administrative lapses here. It appears the home doesn't have a reverse osmosis purification system and people were drinking water from a borewell," he said.
Opposition leader Sachin Pilot said the incident was "the government's failure". "The government must give help and compensation to the families of those who died," he said.