Tharparkar drought claims life of one more infant

Death toll for 40 days reaches 46

THARPARKAR: As the prevailing drought in Tharparkar continues to take lives, one more infant died in the district taking the death toll to 46 in the last 40 days, Express News reported.

The child died of malnutrition in the Civil hospital of Mithi. The ongoing drought has claimed up to 470 lives in three years.

In the drought-hit region that is spread over 22,000 kilometres, Civil hospital is often too far for residents to visit. Abject poverty and lack of transportation facilities make a visit to the hospital all the more daunting.

Moreover, the Basic Health Units (BHUs) and primary healthcare centres (read: the ones that are still functional) do not have the necessary medication or treatment facilities that are required by these children.

In the absence of such facilities, residents of Tharparkar continue to face the losses of their loved ones while the government continues to blame ‘Mother Nature’.

PPP

Sindh government has been under strict scrutiny and pressure to take steps towards bringing an end to the drought.

Earlier on November 6, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto had issued show cause notices to Chief Minister, Qaim Ali Shah and Provincial Deputy General Secretary Mansoor Wassan on the ground of an inquiry report revealing mishandling of this issue by the officials.

Yesterday, however, Bilawal withdrew the notices, ultimately blaming the media for false reporting and declared he never issued them.

Nonetheless an intra-party inquiry is being conducted under the supervision of Bilawal and action is expected to be taken soon after it is completed.