Gastro epidemic: Rising temperatures turn stomachs

30 children have been admitted with diarrhoea in Kamalia this week,.

FAISALABAD:

Over thirty children in Kamalia, Toba Tek Singh have been hospitalised during the last week due to diarrhoea and gastroenteritis. Doctors have said that three of the children are in serious condition.

Local health officials and medical experts said that the extreme heat was a contributing factor to diarrhea. “There have been over two dozen reports of diarrhea patients this week and all of them have been children. One of the main reasons is that the heat causes food to rot much more quickly and with frequent power cuts many are eating stale food,” said Dr Khalid Niaz.

Doctors said that in Kamalia, the unavailability of clean drinking water was also a contributing factor to the increasing number of gastric diseases.

In the THQ Hospital, Kamilal over thirty children have been admitted in the past four days and the numbers are expected to rise.

The THQ medical superintendent (SI) said that the children were being provided treatment. “Three of the children are in critical condition,” he said. A child specialist, Dr Habibur Rehman, said that the main reason behind the spread of the epidemic was the heat.

He said that a large number of children had been hospitalised in private and public hospitals and that the Health Department had not yet made any arrangements in this regard.

“We need vaccinations and medicine but no one has bothered to help out yet,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2011.