Gastro cases on the rise in flood-hit areas
Girls, who along with their families are displaced by flooding, give water to their siblings, as they take refuge in a school, following rains and floods during the monsoon season, in Jacobabad, Pakistan August 30, 2022. REUTERS
At least 2,000 cases of gastroenteritis are being reported daily as people consume polluted water across Sindh after floods, officials said.
"The situation of water-borne disease will get worse if the canals are not cleared of polluted floodwaters," a top official of the Sindh Health Department told The Express Tribune.
In flood-affected areas, the water supply lines have either been disconnected or are underwater, while in several districts rainwater is flowing in canals and the water pipelines.
"We do not use piped water after rains," said Mohammad Hanif, a resident of Badin city. "It is [completely] polluted," he added, saying he has seen dead animals and filth in the canal passing through the city. "The same water is being stored in the water supply [ponds] and is being supplied to the citizens without purification," he explained.
Hanif said that majority of the citizens prefer either bottled water or purchase water from private filter plants. "There is no other way. We cannot take any risk," he commented.
In recent days, around 18 private filter plants have been set up in the city which according to the citizens were not enough as more and more people wanted to have purified water.
Another top official in health department confirmed that over 2,000 gastroenteritis patients were being reported at different health facilities daily.
"The number of such cases was very high in southern districts of the province," the official pointed out. In upper districts, he added, the groundwater is good for consumption.
"The issue will not be addressed only with medicine," he said. "We need to ensure potable water to all the citizens, including displaced families," he said.
The health department's officials said that water diarrhea was a serious issue and the government was continuously asking the irrigation department to at least open the water canals to provide fresh water to the citizens.
Those who live in makeshifts on roadsides and embankments, seem to be consuming polluted water available in the area.
Confirming the rise in gastroenteritis across Sindh, Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Siraj Soomro said that stagnant water was contaminated. "Hygiene of all the people is at risk," he briefed.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Soomro said that the burden of waterborne diseases was huge on the health facilities. "It is all because of the water."
He said that it will take at least 20 days to recede water from the areas on the left bank of the Indus River while it will take about 45 more days for the water to recede from the right bank.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2022.