Cholera and diarrhoea cases have gone up in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district, with the local government hospital having received 650 patients in the last four months only, a senior official said on August 8.

Yavatmal Government Medical College and Hospital dean Dr Manish Shrigiriwar said the number of patients shot up during April to August 8. He said 13 patients were admitted in the hospital on August 8, taking the number of in-house patients of diarrhoea and cholera to 51. "We have opened special wards for the patients suffering from cholera and diarrhoea," the dean said.

When asked about the inflow of patients suffering from passive inhalation of farm pesticides, the dean said 34 patients have been treated since July. "There is no casualty this year as compared to the previous year," said Dr Shrigiriwar. Smarter by the previous year's incidents, the district administration distributed special safety kits to farmers this year.

Last year, incidents of deaths of farmers due to pesticide poisoning in the east Maharashtra district had come to light, prompting chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to order an enquiry. Although the government had not specified the number of deaths, farm activist Kishor Tiwari and the Shiv Sena had said that 18 farmers had died due to pesticide exposure.