HYDERABAD, May 20: District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil has declared emergency in all the government hospitals in the district cancelling the leaves of doctors and paramedical staff to control an outbreak of diarrhoea.

The nazim, after visiting different hospitals of the district, issued the orders in a meeting he presided at his secretariat on Friday.

The DCO, EDO health, DG Hyderabad Development Authority and managing director of Water and Sanitation Agency attended the meeting.

He was though satisfied with overall situation but declared emergency nevertheless to prevent the disease from spreading to alarming levels.

He warned that any official who took the matter lightly would have to face strict action and directed that chlorine tablets be distributed to people in a house to house drive and water be supplied after carrying out chemical analysis.

He said that the district health department had 100,000 chlorine tablets. One tablet was enough to kill bacteria in 10 litres of water, he added.

The nazim paid visits to Civil Hospital, Bhittai Hospital in Latifabad and Taluka Hospital in Qasimabad where senior doctors told him that the outbreak of diarrhoea during summer was routine and that they had already made arrangements to deal with it.

Pointing out that contaminated water was one of the major causes of diarrhoea, he directed the MD of WASA, Kafeel Ahmed, to ensure chlorination of water in the reservoirs.