Dirty camps giving pink eye the green signal

Conjuctivitis creeeps into relief camps as thousands are crowded together.

KARACHI: Pink eye or conjuctivitis has stealthily crept into relief camps as thousands of people are crowded together in less than hygienic conditions.

“I have a skin infection and my eyes also sting all the time,” said a red-eyed Ali Muhammad at Karachi’s biggest relief camp at Razzaqabad. He is one of the many flood survivors at the camp suffering from an eye infection.

Another patient, Sikandar, complained of the same problem. “The doctor gave me eye drops,” he added.

According to health department statistics, at least 3,400 flood survivors with eye infections have been treated in Karachi so far.

Doctors said that pink eye is an acute infection which takes about eight to 10 days to heal.

Dr Idris, an eye specialist, said, “It is important to protect your eyes but the infection heals by itself.”

Flood survivors complain of poor quality drinking water. Camp management has little concept of a system of cleanliness, said residents, explaining that they had to clean up their tents themselves. But while many survivors take the pains to sweep their personal tents as clean as they can, there is no arrangement to care for the general environment of the camp. Dust bins or janitorial staff are conspicuous in their absence.

There are just eight toilets in the camp, four for men and four for females but the burgeoning population of the camp is more than 4,000 and the shortage of bathroom facilities too adds to the general unhealthy and dirty camp environment.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2010.