Death toll climbs to eight as two more children die in Salehpat

Parents say that the deaths were caused due to whooping cough, pneumonia and fever

SUKKUR: Lack of medical facilities in the desert areas of Salehpat, Sukkur, have claimed two more lives of children on Tuesday, raising the death toll to eight since last week.

The parents of the children are claiming that various diseases, including, measles, tetanus, whooping cough, skin rashes and others, are quite common in these areas, but health authorities deny this.

Four-year-old Momal, daughter of Muhammad Panah Bhambhro, a resident of Behan Wari village, died of whooping cough. Similarly, one-year-old Zehra, daughter of Ayaz Bhambhro, a resident of Bachal Bhambhro village, died of pneumonia and fever.

Talking to Salehpat-based reporters, the villagers, including Ayaz Bhambhro, said that a team of doctors and vaccinators from Sukkur visited various villages in the area last week. The doctors examined the ailing children, vaccinated them and left without providing them any treatment to the children, the villagers claimed.

As far as the treatment of the ailing children is concerned, the doctors asked us to take the children to the Basic Health Unit (BHU) in Salehpat, the villagers said, adding that there is no doctor available there. In case of any emergency, the people either have to go to the taluka hospital in Rohri or Civil Hospital Sukkur, the villagers claimed.

A Salehpat-based journalist told The Express Tribune that due to the unavailability of doctors, the BHU has become useless for the residents and the people have to go to the taluka hospital in Rohri for treatment. The journalist said that Salehpat is the taluka headquarter and people are in need of a taluka hospital. However, the residents have only been provided with a BHU where doctors are not ready to perform their duties, he said.

Sukkur district health officer Dr Abdul Wahab Mahar said that a team of doctors was sent to the area, to vaccinate and also provide treatment to the children. He claimed that not a single case of whooping cough or tetanus was reported by that team. The BHU is being run by the People's Primary Health Initiative and a doctor is posted there, said Mahar. "I have strictly ordered the vaccinators to visit the area regularly," he said, adding that the teams are visiting the area to administer polio drops to the children.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2016.