In a very tragic incident relating to the health crisis that has emerged in the wake of recent floods, eight people died of various ailments in Khairpur Nathan Shah in Sindh on Monday. Different water-borne diseases including gastroenteritis, dengue and malaria are hitting hard in areas affected by floods. Eight deaths in a single day in Khairpur Nathan Shah has left everyone in a gloomy mood creating a somber atmosphere in the area. An 8-year-old child died of malaria in Rahoja village. He had been suffering from high fever for the last three days. He succumbed to the disease due to non-availability of medical care he needed urgently.  In Faridabad, a child died of gastroenteritis.  The dead body of a 70-year-old man Imam Ali Rind was also recovered from FP Bund. He was also died of the epidemic.  So many deaths due to water-borne diseases have been reported every day in the flood-affected areas. The World Health Organization has expressed deep concern about the potential for a “second disaster in Pakistan: a wave of diseases and deaths”. In a statement on Saturday, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “I am deeply concerned about the potential for a second disaster in Pakistan: a wave of diseases and deaths following this catastrophe linked to climate change that has severely impacted vital health systems leaving millions vulnerable.” The WHO chief also urged donors to continue to respond generously to “save lives and prevent more suffering”. The southern Sindh and southwestern Balochistan provinces have been the worst hit — hundreds of thousands in Sindh live now in makeshift homes and authorities say it will take months to completely drain the water in the province. Talking to a foreign news agency, Imran Baloch, head of a government-run district hospital in Jafferabad, in the district of Dera Allah Yar in Baluchistan, said that out of 300 people tested daily, nearly 70% are positive for malaria. After malaria, typhoid fever and skin infections are commonly seen among the displaced, living for weeks in unhygienic conditions, he added. 

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP