Tharparkar drought: Govt report claims 67 dead, media reports 129

Report says most deaths were due to pneumonia, sepsis, birth asphyxia and very few from malnutrition.


Web Desk March 10, 2014
Express News screengrab.

ISLAMABAD/ HYDERABAD/ MITHI: “A total of 67 death cases of infants and children have been reported [in Tharparkar in the last three months],” stated a report submitted by the chief secretary of Sindh in the Supreme Court during the hearing of Tharparkar suo motu notice case, Express News reported.

This figure is around half of the deaths reported by Express News which put the toll at 129.

The report stated that 26 deaths were reported in December, 18 in January and 23 in February.

“Most of these deaths have been due to pneumonia, sepsis, birth asphyxia and very few from malnutrition. Sepsis is mainly due to use of unhygienic methods of delivery used by midwives and untrained local ‘da’is’,” the report states further.

According to the report, around 0.12 million wheat bags worth Rs429 million are being distributed amongst the affected people. “Around 80,000 bags have already been dispatched and received in the district.”

Justice Azmat Saeed, during the hearing of Tharparkar suo motu case, remarked that the people in the district do not need the prime minister or the chief minister but they need food.

“We should bow our heads in shame over what is happening there,” Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani said about the situation in Tharparkar.

Latest casualties

The calamity claimed five more lives on Monday including a one-year-old child as well as two-year-old Babu and three-year-old Samina who died in Civil Hospital, Hyderabad.

Five children are currently under treatment at the same hospital.

At least 129 children have lost their lives in the last three months because of the drought in Tharparkar.

COMMENTS (30)

Taimoor Sheikh | 10 years ago | Reply

I am an architecture student from Department of Visual Studies , University of Karachi What i read above is really heart wrenching If the concerned authority are not doing well ( as it was expected ) there are certain ways to solve this up on permanent basis!

If the water table is low and it turns salty during drought, fresh water can be harvested from it naturally, without using any external energy source. It will be fresh as well as healthy we just have to follow the laws derived by nature like how a desert beetle get water in drought.

The harvested water can then be feed to hydro and aquaponics system where they can grow fish and veggies in very controlled environment for their community and live stocks. it might not be on farm level but it can be done for a family as mentioned in other article that they live in small pockets as a result it will create a micro climate for survival. It can be on community scale where they will manage and sustain the whole system which is very low cost and vernacular in nature and also develop their communities It will definitely be fruitful. It is practical !! Water is definitely a natural resource. Harvesting water will be like printing the money.

KS | 10 years ago | Reply

Next thing you know, most of these deaths were due to Aliens firing beams from above. They will go to any length not to implicate themselves or their gross negligence.

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