By Ruma Paul
DHAKA (Reuters) - Thousands of villagers in South Asiacomplained of fever and diarrhoea on Thursday as flood watersstarted receding, exposing victims to threats of water-bornediseases, officials and aid agencies said.
At least 700 diarrhoea patients are turning up every day atBangladesh's biggest hospital in the capital, Dhaka.
Authorities said they were forced to erect camps in theparking lot of the hospital to cope with the overflow ofpatients arriving from flood-hit villages.
The tents, which can hold up to 750 patients, had doctors,nurses and other health workers ready to treat patients, said adoctor at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal DiseaseResearch.
"But at the moment, there is no possibility of anepidemic," he said.
Army personnel and medical workers were also asked todistribute medicines as water-borne diseases broke out in manyareas of the country.
One elderly man died in Bogra district while waiting in aqueue for help. A young boy drowned in Faridpur in centralBangladesh on Wednesday, raising the death toll from monsoonflooding to almost 50, officials said.
The deluge swept more than 20 of Bangladesh's 64 districtsand affected nearly four million people, with nearly 200,000 ofthem forced from their homes.
Across South Asia, about 1,000 people have drowned or diedfrom house collapses and snake bites since heavy monsoon rainsbegan causing flooding in June.
DRINKING FLOOD WATERS
In neighbouring India, at least four people have died fromdiarrhoea in the eastern state of Bihar, raising theflood-related death toll in the state to 108, officials said.
Authorities estimate about 40,000 flood victims have beentreated for various diseases in medical camps after they weredisplaced by floods unleashed by the Kosi river, which burst adam in Nepal last month and swamped their homes.
More than 3 million people have been forces from theirhomes and flood waters have destroyed 100,000 ha (250,000acres) of farmlands.
The conditions in relief camps were still very poor.
"The availability of drinking water is too little ascompared to the large population displaced by floods," saidSushil Kumar, a doctor in one of the relief camps.
"People have been relieving themselves not very far fromthe ... camps, since the entire area is flooded. It's hell," hesaid.
Television pictures showed an old man putting his tattered,
dirty turban over flowing flood waters and trying to drinkthe water seeping through it.
"There is only one hand pump at the relief camp and we haveto drink, clean and wash from the same water," said Shakun Deviof Madhepura in Bihar. "Do we have a choice ?"
Non-government organisations working in the camps saidabysmal living conditions could have devastating healthimplications.
Separately in Bihar, 17 people died when a boat they weretravelling in overturned in Sheikhpura district. The deathswere not related to the recent floods and could have beencaused by overcrowding, a senior official said.
(Writing by Melanie Lee; Editing by Bappa Majumdar and PaulTait)
