Gastro breaks out in Pishin; two children die

Hundreds have been infected by the ailment

QUETTA:

After the cholera outbreak, which claimed dozens of lives across Balochistan due to non-availability of clean drinking water in the rural hinterlands, gastroenteritis killed two children in Pishin district on Monday.

The outbreak of gastro has affected dozens of children in the Kohlu and Pishin districts. “Two children have died of gastroenteritis in the Killi Sheikhalzai area of Pishin district and hundreds more have been infected,” District Health Officer (DHO) Pishin Dr Ghaffar told The Express Tribune. He said treatment is being provided to hundreds of patients infected by the ailment.

Several dozen have been admitted to District Headquarters Hospital Pishin where an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation.

Dr Ghaffar said that the health department has established 24 free medical camps in various localities in the district to provide free and timely treatment to gastro-affected children. However, people of the area complained about the lack of medicines and doctors in the District Headquarters Hospital.

“We have been told to buy medicines from the open market and most of the people are really poor villagers who cannot afford them as they had lost all their household items in the rains subsequent flooding,” a local resident Muhammad Khan observed.

He rushed his son to DHQ Hospital after he developed symptoms of the disease.

In Balochistan’s Kohlu district, dozens of children were also infected by the waterborne disease recently. A four-day campaign was conducted across the province with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) to educate people about the waterborne ailment and created awareness about preventive measures.

It may be recalled that at least five people died of cholera in the Dera Bugti area of Balochistan in June this year. Similarly, 10 people lost their lives in Zhob and its surroundings last month, health officials said, adding that the situation across the province was not good.

“The outbreak of gastro and cholera is the result of contaminated water use,” Secretary of Health Balochistan Hafiz Tahir said while talking to The Express Tribune.

He said the department has declared an emergency throughout the province to deal with it. The WHO has also extended all possible support to the Balochistan Health Department to make sure timely treatment of the infected children, Tahir noted.

Most of the cholera, gastro, and diarrhoea cases were reported from Kohlu, Khuzdar, Barkhan, Pishin and other parts of Balochistan. These diseases have claimed precious human lives.