Central govt team to visit Buldhana to study nail loss outbreak

MUMBAI: After media reports highlighting the sudden loss of fingernails, toenails and finger and toe deformities in residents of Buldhana, the union health ministry has appointed an expert team to visit the district. Fifty-six cases of this kind were registered in nine villages across three tehsils till Sunday evening.

The second bout of panic gripped villagers nearly four months after residents of 15 villages in Buldhana district’s Shegaon tehsil woke up one day to sudden and rampant hair loss. Considering the seriousness of the matter, the union health ministry on Saturday appointed a team of nine experts who will visit Buldhana.

As per the office memorandum signed by Navin Verma, deputy director (Electronic Medical Response): “The team may assist the state government as required in terms of public health measures, management guidelines and protocols. The team will debrief the state health authorities before coming back and also the directorate of general health services, MoHFW, GOI on their return.”

The letter mentions the hair loss earlier reported in these areas, and states that a central team was deputed then. This time too, in order to facilitate the state government with a comprehensive assessment of the situation and to plan the future course of action, a team led by Dr Tanzin Dikid, additional director of the National Centre for Disease Control, will visit Buldhana.

Dr Pranali Kamble, senior regional director in the Regional Office for Health and Family Welfare, Pune, is member secretary while the other team members include a scientist from The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, a dermatologist and the director of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. The team also includes Dr Rattan Tiwari, director of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research in Karnal, Haryana, which comes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

A few months ago, the Padma Shri-decorated Dr Himmatrao Bawaskar, a prominent medical expert from Buldhana, who now resides at Mahad in Raigad district, revealed that the wheat supplied from Punjab and Haryana through ration shops in the affected villages had selenium levels up to 600 times higher than the locally grown varieties. His independent findings were not corroborated by an earlier study done by ICMR.

Former zilla parishad vice-president Sangeetrao Bhongal criticised the medical authorities for their delayed response. “We are happy that the union government is sending an expert team for review, but this time we need some results and a solution to this problem,” he said. “We demanded full health check-ups when cases of hair loss surfaced in December. But the administration did not act, and no reports have been made public. Now, the problem is worsening.”