LAYYAH, June 27: Two people have died and around 40 hospitalised after gastroenteritis outbreak in Chak 393 TDA, some 26 kilometres away from here, in last three days and all hospitals in the district have been put on high alert.

Rafique and Shamim Bibi were the first victims of gastroenteritis outbreak and died on Wednesday. When relatives and locals visited Rafique’s bereaved family on Thursday and Friday for mourning and Qul at his outhouse, they also got affected and were immediately taken to Rural Health Centre (RHC) in Chowk Azam. Nine patients were taken to the RHC and eight to DHQ Hospital on Thursday.

As the number of patients gradually rose, two wards of the DHQ Hospital were evacuated for the gastro patients and now around 40 patients were being treated there.

DHQ Hospital medical superintendent Dr. Ghulam Mustafa said that special wards have been established for gastro patients. He said all of them were being provided medical care along with free medicines and they were recovering. He appealed to the people to drink boiled water.

Health EDO Dr. Mukhtar Shah maintained that a special team of doctors was treating the patients while another team had visited Chak 393-TDA and provided healthcare to patients who could not be hospitalised.

The EDO said usage of water of all hand-pumps and suction pumps had been stopped and samples of water from these pumps had been sent to the Institute of Public Health in Lahore for examination.

Health education was also being given to residents of the village and surrounding localities and water purification tablets were also being distributed among them, he said. land grab: The kin of a Pakistan People’s Party MPA have allegedly occupied a widow’s land worth Rs8 million in Layyah city.

Talking to reporters at the Layyah Press Club on Friday, Fehmida Begum alleged that PPP MPA Safdar Abbas Bhatti's uncle Munir Abbas, his younger brother Qaiser Abbas and their accomplices such as Rana Saudagar and Nazim Shah occupied her 4-kanal land located in Chah Kasaiwala. She said the market value of her land was Rs8 million. She said police were not helping her because of the MPA’s influence.

However, Munir Abbas said he purchased 1 kanal and 17 marla land from Fehmida's cousin Qadeer Khan after verifying the revenue record. He said his friend Rana Abid Masud purchased 18 marla land from Fehmida's cousin Zubaida Begum, who also owned land in Chah Kasaiwala. He said they occupied their plots after Qadeer Khan and Zubaida Begum marked these.