The investigating team.
– Photo : Amar Ujala
Expansion
There is news of work for the people of Begusarai. The team of Mahavir Cancer Institute is going to stay in Begusarai district for four days. The team will assess other diseases including cancer in the plains of Ganga. The team visited Teghra, Barauni, Rani, Bachhwara, Murali Toll, Manjhaul, Sahebpur Kamal, Sadpur villages of Begusarai district. Team head Dr. Arun Kumar said that the blood pressure as well as blood glucose levels of 364 people were checked in all these villages. Apart from this, urine, blood, hair, nails of 85 people, their household food items like wheat, rice, pulses, potatoes and soil samples were collected for heavy metal contamination. In all these villages, 42% of the people had high blood pressure levels, while 10% had low blood pressure levels. 11% of the population had very high blood sugar levels.
People’s health is being seriously endangered
11 cancer patients were also found during the study in these villages. Some cancer patients are undergoing treatment at Mahavir Cancer Institute. Apart from this, almost all the examined patients complained of joint pain, pain in lower limbs, flatulence, anemia, general physical weakness and some women complained of leucorrhoea, menstrual disturbances etc. He also said that the health of the people is being seriously threatened due to groundwater arsenic poisoning in the Gangetic plains of Bihar. This is causing silent diseases in people.
Women in the village also had gynecological diseases
Experts believe that the disease burden in Begusarai’s population has increased slightly. Women in the village also had gynaecological diseases, which should be properly investigated. The team’s previous study also reported arsenic and lead toxicity in the breast milk of the women, with their infants also facing health risks due to arsenic and lead toxicity. Chandra Nath Mishra, Gautam Kumar, Sushil Kumar Rai and Jagdeo Prasad Yadav from these villages provided local support. The members of the Mahavir team were Vidya Kumari, Megha Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Nikhil Kumar and Shivam Kumar.
