MUMBAI, June 11: Even as the monsoon is to set in, five persons in the city have succumbed to gastro-enteritis.

Although the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claims to have geared itself to prevent gastro-enteritis, malaria, typhoid, jaundice and other seasonal diseases from breaking out, deaths reported from various hospitals have baffled the authorities.

As of now, 122 cases of gastro-enteritis have already been reported from 19 municipal hospitals, 21 on Monday itself. Of these, while five patients have died, 24 have been discharged after they responded to treatment.

Civic medical authorities said the last death was reported on Monday from the Nair Hospital, where one-year-and-two-month-old Bharat Ramesh Hinduja died within 24 hours of being admitted.

Five-month-old Deepak Yuvraj Torne died on June 8 at the LTMG Hospital where he was admitted two days earlier. Four-month-old Ajaykumar Vishwakarma was admitted to the R N Cooper Hospital on June 6, but died within 24 hours.

Two deaths were recorded on June 4 as 70-year-old Umrai Laltubal died at theM W Desai Hospital in Malad (West) and Lalita Dattaram Narkar died at the Nair Hospital, hours after being admitted.

BMC executive health officer Alka Karande told Express Newsline that diseases such as gastro-enteritis, malaria and jaundice were common during the rainy season and that the authorities had taken adequate measures to prevent their spread.

She said, ``All the 176 health posts, 166 dispensaries and municipal and peripheral hospitals have been alerted and adequately equipped with preventive medicines. We also have mobile health units to monitor the situation in the slums.''

Karande added that strict action will be taken against all hawkers and food vendors who do not maintain hygienic conditions and who sell uncovered eatables.

``If hawkers are caught cooking in the open, their wares and foodstuff will be seized and they will be fined. But it all depends on the people. The BMC can only make them aware of the dangers.''

Asked if the diseases are generally concentrated in the slums and other densely-populated areas, Karande said, ``It is difficult to pinpoint especially vulnerable areas due to the vastness of the city. Most office-goers living in the suburbs eat at the roadside stalls in town due to which the spread of the disease remains pretty even throughout the city.''She explained that the authorities generally have to depend on the cases of gastro-enteritis to measure the impact of the seasonal diseases. ``It is only in this disease that the symptoms are visible within 24 hours. Delay in administering treatment may be fatal, especially in the case of children.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.