Heatwave similar to 2015 expected in Karachi this year

Karachi health office issues alert to hospitals as mercury starts rising

KARACHI: The director of the Karachi health office has issued an alert to hospitals for heatwave, saying that the situation this year will be similar to the one in 2015, in which hundreds of people lost their lives due to escalating temperatures.

The notice reads that since the unprecedented heatwave in Karachi in 2015 claimed the lives of many people, especially the elderly and children, we need to be better prepared this time. "We are expecting the same situation this year,” read the alert. “Keeping the previous experience in mind, we have to prepare ourselves before time [to combat this].”



The general notice was issued to the executive director of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and medical superintendents of Civil Hospital and general hospitals in Korangi, Ibrahim Hyderi, Saudabad and Liaquatabad, Qatar Hospital in Orangi Town, children’s hospital North Nazimabad and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital among others.

The alert directed hospitals to keep their departments ready to cope should such a situation arise. They were also directed to establish heatstroke treatment and stabilisation centres to provide emergency medical treatment, depute medical and paramedical staff, allocate separate beds, provide essential medicines and submit the heatstroke crises management plan within 24 hours for onward submission to the quarters concerned well in time.

JPMC Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali told The Express Tribune that the hospital is fully prepared to tackle such a situation. “It is important to create awareness before time to avoid a heavy influx to tertiary-care hospitals,” she said. She further advised the residents of Karachi to keep themselves hydrated during the hot weather.