Thousands stream to hospitals with gastric complaints

Doctors advise against overeating and mixing food items of different temperatures

ISLAMABAD: With the onset of Ramazan, a gluttony fest of samosas, fritters and other fried and spicy items has seen hospitals in the federal capital full of thousands of patients complaining of stomach related issues. Hospital officials said that since the beginning of the holy month, they have received some 8,000 patients with complaints of either gastroenteritis, gut infections, severe stomach pains, diarrhoea and vomiting. Some of these cases, officials said, was due to overeating.

Federal Government Hospital – Polyclinic spokesperson Dr Sharif Astori told The Express Tribune that there has been a four per cent increase over the number of patients who were brought to the hospital’s emergency in Ramazan as compared to last year.

He added that told that the hospital is treating around 600 to 700 patients every day who are visiting the hospital with complaints of stomach related ailments.

Dr Astori added they administered drips to patients who complained about gastrointestinal problems to provide immediate relief.

Given the surge in the number of patients, he said that they have procured additional medicines apart from arranging for additional staff at the emergency department. He suggested that people should avoid eating very fast when they break their fast.

“Food items should be consumed with patience to avoid indigestion,” he advised.

It was a similar story at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) which has treated thousands of patients with similar complaints.

Pims Gastric Department’s Dr Waseem Khawaja said that their emergency and children’s emergency wards have received around 4,000 patients, including a thousand children, since the start of Ramazan. He added that most of the patients arrived after iftari while around a dozen come in every day after sehri with complaints of indigestion.

However, he said that the patient load at the Outpatient Departments (OPD) of the hospital had surprisingly fallen during Ramazan.

Dr Khawaja highlighted that a major reason for indigestion was overindulging in hot and cold items after an entire day of fasting in the hot weather.

He suggested that people should avoid gobbling large amounts of food at different temperatures in order to avoid gastric compilations. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2019.