Containment zone and section 144 was imposed in Badhal village of Rajouri district on Saturday as 17 people have died due to unknown disease.
Administration has set up check points on all the roads leading to the village and is providing ration to drinking water.
Public and private gatherings have been restricted to prevent the spread of the disease. Medical teams have been deployed to the village to provide treatment and to conduct tests to identify the cause of the disease.
A central team is investigating the cause of deaths and over 200 samples have been sent to different labs. Security checks are being done to allow anyone to enter the restricted areas.
A pharmacist while talking to media said that paramedics and nurses are working 24x7 to not let the situation worsen.
"Nurses and paramedics have been working 24x7 to make sure the conditions are in control. We are taking the patients to Rajouri if their health conditions deteriorate. The doctors have also been investigating on the situation and are trying to understand it..." the pharmacist said.
Shafeel Choudhary, a local said that the disease has been spreading since last one and a half month.
"The illness had started spreading one and half a month before. All people who had come in contact with the affected people have been sent to quarantine centres. The administration team has been making sure that proper care and precautions are being taken." Choudhary said.
Rajouri's Government Medical College (GMC) in Jammu and Kashmir is also being fortified to deal with the disease. Government's health department has provided five child specialists and five anaesthesia specialists to GMC Rajouri. Principal GMC Rajouri, Dr AS Bhatia confirmed that all kind of advanced technology is in place to handle any kind of emergency.
"We faced a shortage of staff during evacuation (of Budhal village). I requested the Secretary Health, and within half an hour, he got the GMC Principal to pass an order for deputing 5 anaesthesiologists and 5 paediatricians. They will strengthen our existing manpower... We have been facing this crisis for 40 days, since 7 December," MC Rajouri Principal, Dr Amarjeet Singh Bhatia said.
Advanced care ambulances are also available at the hospital. Currently 6 patients from Budhal village are admitted at GMC Hospital Rajouri and are recovering. MLA Budhal Javaid Iqbal has asked Union government to provide air ambulances for emergency situations so that patients can be airlifted. The unknown disease is showing symptoms of fever, sweating, vomiting, dehydration and episodic loss of consciousness. Despite initial tests no bacterial or viral infections have been detected.
