Many people are now falling ill with diarrhoea in the sudden heat. Everyone should be careful about eating outside food at this time, and it is important to know what to do quickly if you get diarrhoea.

• Mix one packet of oral saline in half a litre of water and drink it.
• Along with oral saline, give the patient plenty of liquid food such as green coconut water, flattened rice (chira) water and soup.
• Do not give the patient soft drinks, fruit juice, grapes or pomegranate.
• People over 10 with diarrhoea should drink a glass of oral saline after each bowel movement.
• For children with diarrhoea, give oral saline after each bowel movement: as many teaspoons as the child weighs in kilos, or roughly according to how much stool was passed.
• If a child vomits, feed slowly, for example one teaspoon every 3-4 minutes.
• Children under two must be breastfed along with oral saline. Breastfeeding must not be stopped in any way.
• Children over six months with diarrhoea should be given all their normal food along with oral saline.
• Children from six months to five years should be given one zinc tablet dissolved in water daily for 10 days in a row.
• If the patient still does not improve, or gets much worse, go to the nearest hospital, health centre or doctor immediately.

Citing icddr,b.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.