The writer is a socio-economic development professional and has eight years of experience in the development and humanitarian sector
Much of the health-related problems are provoked by contaminated water and food. Though water is considered life. But this thought now has been reduced to just a rhetoric. In truth, today water triggers death. Because underground water is highly brackish, wells or boreholes are dried, surface water is excessively contaminated, ponds have no water, bottled water is expensive, canal water is extremely polluted, filter plants and reverse osmosis (RO) systems are not functional. All in all, instead of drinking purified, filtered and clean water the general public is consuming gutter waste that increases the chances of many water-borne diseases.
According to World Wide Fund for Nature report titled ‘Pakistan’s Waters at Risk,’ 20-40 per cent of all hospital beds in Pakistan are occupied by patients suffering from water-related diseases, which are responsible for one third of all deaths. Another study conducted recently that collected water samples from surface and underground water sources in 13 districts of Sindh, including all districts of Karachi, have been found unfit for human consumption.
For instance, Badin a poor city in the country, according to human development index with a population of 1.8 million is exposed to various infectious diseases, which are borne consuming contaminated water. It is analysed that seven out of 10 people in Badin have a water-borne disease such as cholera, typhoid, and diarrhoea. But there is no official study conducted by the provincial government or by any other institution that records the number of health problems, its causes, consequences and solutions in Sindh.
Apart from unclean water, foods and comestible items which are consumed on a daily basis is abundantly impure and unhygienic. Milk is vastly contaminated. Vegetables are grown on sewage water. Pulses are tinted and dyed. Grinded powder of bricks is added to red pepper. Cooking oil and banaspati ghee available are exceedingly substandard. Nearly all eatable items have some kind of a problem.
Moreover, mounting menace of betel quid, gutka and smoking prompts severe health complications in various parts of Sindh. The habit of chewing gutka and betel quid is so common in Badin and Thatta that not only men, but women and children are also addicted to these toxicities.
The corporates, capitalists and industrialists greed of earning more affluence has put millions of people at increased risk. The so-called companies produce second-rate products and sell those with higher rates in the markets. They sell not products but lethal diseases. The regular use of impure food items and poisonous water is creating horrible consequences for human health in Sindh. In fact, the general public is unable to recognise and realise that they are consuming toxins.
In this horrific backdrop, according to the economic survey, budget allocation (current expenditure and development) in Sindh for the health sector from 2015-16 to 2017-18 was Rs66.504, Rs76.760 and Rs100.735 billion, respectively. In three years nearly Rs244 billion have been allocated for the health sector in Sindh but the perilous health situation instead of improving is declining rapidly. Besides, the Sindh government in its previous tenure from 2013 to 2018 spent nearly Rs29 billion on water supply and sanitation schemes with the purpose to provide safe drinking water to the public, but the overall outlook of water supply and sanitation paints a different picture. Thousands of water supply and sanitation schemes are not functional.
To fix food and water related problems, at district, provincial and federal level food, water and health departments and research laboratories need to take immediate measures to check the quality of food and water. A strong and honest media (electronic, print and social) campaign also ought to be launched to improve and aware the masses regarding these emerging health issues. In addition, in school textbooks a lesson should be included regarding water and food-borne diseases. Also, sturdy political will to tackle health issues is highly recommended.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2018.
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