Acute gastroenteritis plagues local villages

It’s barely June but the sun is already baking Sawan Chutto, a small village located close to Karachi’s Gadap area. Somewhere in the midst of the village is a dug-well, around which groups of bucket-wielding women routinely gather to draw pails of water. Any splatter that escapes from their bucket is quickly lapped up by nearby goats that also flock to the watering hole to quench their thirst. “We have no other option. Be it the villagers or their livestock, we all rely on this single well for our drinking water,” said Nusrat Bano, a local woman who’d walked a few miles to the well to fetch water for her family.

Unsafe consumption is believed to pose a growing health risk to local communities camped around the Gadap region that lacks access to potable water. An example of this is Khand Jhang, a locale set some 100 kilometres outwards of Karachi city, where viral gastroenteritis has fast become an epidemic, infecting almost every family residing in the area.

Allah Dino Ahmdani, a villager who recently lost his wife to severe gastroenteritis, says that once infected, chances of survival can be particularly slim in his village owing to a dearth of healthcare facilities. “We were trying to treat my wife at home at first, but when her abdominal pain and vomiting got worse we had to no other option but to take her to the city for medical attention. However, by the time we reached Karachi it was too late, she had already passed on. Since then, three children from my neighbourhood, all aged between 11 months to four years, have also suffered a similar fate,” Ahmdani said, adding that he also alerted the local MPA, District Health Officer, and the administrator of the Karachi district council about the rise in stomach flu cases but his words have only fallen on deaf ears.

A similar condition has been observed in at least 50 villages in the union council Moidan deh Kand Jhang, adjacent to the metropolitan city. All of these settlements lack access to potable water and healthcare facilities, which on top of the ongoing heatwave, is believed to have increased the severity of the gastroenteritis outbreak.

Photo: Express

“If you [the government] can’t afford to provide access to education or healthcare please at least give us drinking water, so that our family and children can survive in the heatwave,” beseeched Ismail, who is a resident of Kareem Ahmadani Goth. The village man said that the people in his settlement have identified a spot that is rich in potable groundwater. “It is a little far from here but with the government’s help we can put up solar-powered tube wells, or even fill up a pond or a dug-well that will give us access to drinking water at least,” added Ismail, who has already floated the idea to their local MPA Sajjad Jokhio but hasn’t been able to receive a response.

The area falls under the jurisdiction of the Karachi District Council, an elected body that is supposed to provide basic services to the area’s people. According to official statistics, the government allocates around rupees Rs4 billion every year for the district council comprising 38 union councils of Karachi’s suburbs, which is currently being run by the administrator following the tenure of local bodies that ended in August 2020.

Hassan Ali Chutto, a resident of Sawan Chutto Goth, blames the chairman of the local district council for abandoning his area, along with the various problems it faces. Per him, as the gastroenteritis continues to take lives, there is not a single doctor or paramedic available at their local dispensaries, which have all been closed for years. “Salman Abdullah Murad, who is the son of slain Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA Abdullah Murad, has served as the chairman of the district council for the last four years. After the election campaigning, he’s neither visited the area nor provided any facilities here. We visited his office several times to report our complaints but he’s ungraciously refused to meet us each time,” alleged Chutto.

According to local journalist Waheed Siyal, who knows the lay of the land like the back of his palm, gastroenteritis is rather endemic to the region, surfacing almost every summer to claim hundreds of lives. “Most of the deaths however go unreported, so the outside world is never truly aware of how deep-rooted and severe this crisis is. The health officials routinely deny deaths from gastro whenever the news surfaces in local newspapers, but I have personally seen children dying because of it and reported the issue and yet no one seems to bat an eyelash,” he said. “The continued consumption of contaminated water is what has aggravated the situation over the years.

Speaking further, the journalist said their hue and cry had finally led to a visit from a doctor of a 50-bed hospital in Gadap, some two days ago. “He checked 50 patients out of which 35 were suffering from gastro problems,” revealed Siyal, hinting at various issues in the area’s budget and governance that have silently encouraged the crisis.

The Pakistan Metrological Department has revealed that the blazing heat will continue till the end of May with the mercury touching 48 to 52 degrees Celsius in some areas of Sindh. “Heatwaves merit an increase in the demand for potable water to keep the population hydrated and also put pressure on sanitation and hygiene services.

When the matter was brought to the attention of the Sindh Health Department spokesperson, he maintained that they had taken notice of the gastroenteritis issues and directed the concerned District Health Officer (DHO) to look into it. “The reports about the death from gastroenteritis are however untrue.,” he asserted.

The Express Tribune has also sought to contact the administrator of the district council for his stance on the matter, however, the concerned has remained unavailable to comment despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2022.