PESHAWAR, May 31: With the arrival of hot season, a large number of children suffering from diarrhoea were being brought to city hospitals, doctors and nurses told Dawn on Friday.

“During the past several days, we have been receiving the children below the age of 12 years in large number because of the severe heat. The number of child patients has increased almost by 50 per cent,” a paediatrician at the Khyber Teaching Hospital said.

The children, he said, needed special care to save them from being affected by the heat-wave.

The doctor said that most of these children used contaminated water which caused diarrhoea. He suggested that children should be given oral rehydration salt in summer season because more salt was consumed by the body in summer.

“The parents should take proper care of their kids and contact the nearest healthcare centre in case of emergency. This would avoid many complications because if diarrhoea isn’t treated properly, it converts into cholera.—AY