rajkot rajkot city is in the grip of waterborne diseases which till date have claimed seven lives outbreak of waterborne diseases is a regular feature in the saurashtra region resulting in several deaths during the summer and early monsoon period this year however was different cases of waterborne diseases were reported all through the year the phenomenon could be linked with the severe water crisis which left the administration with little time to concentrate on pressing needs on the health front despite the rmcs claim that it had not neglected health and hygiene issues in the city statistics reveal an entirely different story between january 1 to april 23 more than 650 cases of vomiting and diarrhoea were registered in the city itself this is an unusually large number for the winter period other diseases like typhoid jaundice and infectious diseases are also on the rise in the wake of the progressing summer the situation will only get worse unless the administration takes stringent measures to combat the situation on a comparative scale the number of waterborne diseases during the same period last year was around 500 another major contributor to these diseases is contaminated drinking water the entire city is solely dependent on underground water sources for its drinking water though the administration claims it is trying its best to disinfect the underground water used for drinking purposes there have been several lapses and several areas of the city have received contaminated water from time to time apart from this the water supplied through tankers is another major culprit though the administration has set up rules and regulations to ensure that the water has been treated with chlorine and is not used for drinking purposes it has failed to evolve a foolproof plan several tanker operators avoid chlorination and the tankers do not carry the mandatory warning that the water is not meant for drinking this despite the rmcs threat to punish the erring tanker operators rmc health officer rathod admits that the main reason for the rise in waterborne diseases is use of contaminated water and consumption of unhygienic food and beverages dr rathod felt 75 per cent of the diseases could have been prevented by drinking boiled water in the last ten days rajkot civil hospital itself had around 50 cases of waterborne diseases apart from this several patients are being treated in its outpatient department every day most alarming is the fact that a majority of the patients are children many of them suffering from malnutrition