Pakistan: Health emergency in Khuzdar after diarrhoea outbreak

Islamabad [Pakistan]: The Balochistan government announced a health emergency in the Aranji area of tehsil Wadh of Khuzdar district after the outbreak of acute diarrhoea, Dawn reported.

The government has sent doctors and paramedics to the area to provide medical facilities to the affected patients. The provincial secretary of health has dismissed the services of a doctor who had refused to perform emergency duty in the affected area.

On Saturday, two women and a child died due to acute diarrhoea in the remote area of Khuzdar district.

DG Health Noor Mohammad Qazi said a complete diagnosis related to cholera was still awaited, adding the area was quite remote and due to rains and floods, there are problems in reaching there, reported Dawn.

He added a health emergency had been declared in the area and a control room had also been established in the DG Health office in Quetta. Qazi added that Khuzdar was monitoring the medical work.

An official notification said the health department had dismissed a doctor appointed on an ad hoc basis after he allegedly refused emergency duty in the Aranji area of Khuzdar.
Departmental action against three other doctors had also been initiated for showing reluctance to go to the affected area, the notification said.

Meanwhile, Karachi’s Malir district has also come into the spotlight after the outbreak of gastroenteritis

The village, part of the union council Darsano Channo of Gadap town, recently faced an outbreak of gastroenteritis, affecting hundreds of residents.

Officials blamed contaminated water being used by the residents responsible for the disease outbreak, though they are yet to identify the causative agent(s), according to Dawn.

A recent visit to the Memon Goth Government Hospital, the largest public-sector tertiary-care facility in the area, showed that the number of patients has declined drastically for now, but 15 to 20 patients are still reporting complaints of stomach/abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting at the emergency department.

The health crisis in the village, information gathered from different sources showed, started developing around June 23-24, but got serious three days later on June 27 when mortalities occurred one after another, as per Dawn.