MITHl: Two more patients tested positive for chikungunya at Mithi Civil Hospital on Thursday, raising the number of such patients to 86 over the past couple of weeks, according to health officials.

Mariyam Hajam and Abdul Haq Halo who came from Tarkiar village of Diplo taluka were admitted to the hospital a few days ago and were reported to have the viral disease.

Residents of different villages told journalists that the teams of specialists who had arrived from Hyderabad and Karachi were visiting only the villages along metalled roads to collect blood samples of patients while majority of villagers had to travel long distances to reach towns to get their patients tested and treated.

They said that gastroenteritis and other waterborne diseases had also broken out in many areas as people were drinking water from stagnant rainwater of shallow ponds.

Despite repeated attempts neither the director general of health nor DHO of Tharparkar attended this reporter`s calls to comment on the situation.