Two killed in Upper Dir cholera outbreak

UPPER DIR:

At least two people died in cholera outbreak in tehsil Kalkot, Dir Upper district on Thursday.

Talking to The Express Tribune, District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Fazal Basir said that Deputy Commissioner Akmal Khan Khattak had identified two deaths but there are no sign of a large scale outbreak of the waterborne disease.

Local residents, however, claimed that in the Jonkas village cholera had affected dozens of people.

“Cholera is spreading fast among the flood victims who are already faced with a lot of problems, including shortage of food,” they said, adding that a local Bakhat Zada took his son to hospital on foot due to lack of transport and money but the five-year-old died there.

Similarly, in the nearby village a woman died of cholera.

The DHO said that the threat of a cholera outbreak is still very much there after the floods.

He said that medical camps were being held to provide treatment to the local flood victims.

Locals are increasingly complaining of a lack of food in the cut-off villages of Dir. They said that food items were not available in the open market and the prices were going up each passing day, compounding the miseries of the flood victims.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2022.