Chief Minister Balochistan, Mir Quddus Bizenjo has approved an additional amount of Rs300 million for the provision of clean drinking water to the residents of Cholera-hit Pir Koh, Dera Bugti district on Thursday.
The CM allocated these funds on emergency basis after cholera outbreak in the village on Wednesday which left four dead and hundreds other hospitalized.
He directed the finance department to ensure timely release of the amount to support the people of Pir Koh. A child was also among the dead in the mountainous village as most of the victims of the pandemic were said to be children and women.
On the other hand, the number of cholera patients has also increased to 1,622 on Thursday but no fresh death has been reported.
“Over 122 new patients have been admitted to hospitals in Dera Bugti today,” District Health Officer (DHO) Dera Bugti Muhammad Azam Bugti told The Express Tribune. He said a medical emergency had been declared across the district and cholera patients were being provided all possible treatment.
“Water-borne diseases continue to spread across Balochistan because of the lack of clean drinking water,” he admitted.
He said that the provincial government had dispatched necessary medicines and other supplies to the affected town and they were trying their level best to bring the situation under control.
Local residents said that all the public hospitals were jam packed with patients and their attendants across the district.
Pir Koh is a mountainous village in Dera Bugti with a population of 35,000 inhabitants.
Replaying to a question, the DHO said that water to the Pir Koh village was being pumped through a 12-kilometer pipeline.
“The pipeline was installed 32 years ago and never ever replaced. It was completely rusted so its water was contaminated. The pipeline was installed by the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited(OGDCL).
However, the district administration has suspended water supply from the OGDCL facility after the outbreak of cholera.
Government of Balochistdan has also sent officials from the health department and public health engineering departments to address the scarcity of water in Dera Bugti,” said an official.
“Currently, water is being provided by Frontier Corps (FC), health department, PHE from Dera Bugti to Pir Koh on the directives of the chief minister,” an official of the PHE said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2022.
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