HYDERABAD, May 25: The death toll from diseases caused by contaminated water rose to 11 in Hyderabad and Kotri as deaths of three more children were confirmed on Tuesday.
One-year-old Uzma died at the Jamil Health Centre, Hali Road, two days back. Dr Noman of the hospital told Dawn that the child, daughter of a watchman of the health centre, was suffering from acute diarrhoea.
He said that the watchman had been advised to take her to the Civil Hospital but he could not go there as his brother was paralysed. He said the baby was treated but her condition did not improve. Six-year-old Sajid died of gastroenteritis in Ghamanabad whereas one-year-old Sarfaraz in the Bhitai hospital.
Meanwhile, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials and City Mukhtiarkar on Tuesday collected 14 samples of bottled water being sold in the city market during surprise visits to shops on reports that some people were selling "purified" water to cash in on the crisis that has engulfed the city since May 15.
Sindh Chief Minister Sardar Ali Muhammad Mahar had on Monday directed the District Coordination Officer (DCO) of Hyderabad, Muhammad Hussain Syed, to put behind bars people who were swindling people.
An EPA source said that the samples of bottled water were being sent to Karachi for laboratory tests to examine their quality. There are reports that some local people have set up plants in Qasimabad to produce "purified" water.
The EPA source said that suppliers claimed that they were getting water from Lahore. The source said that some shopkeepers failed to provide the invoice from the company supplying the water.
The source also pointed out that the distributors had also failed to provide any certificate from the Pakistan Quality Control Department about their product. He maintained that the bottles or cans being sold in the market were being filled in Liaquat Colony, Qasimabad, and other places.
The health department put the total number of patients suffering from gastroenteritis in different government hospitals of Hyderabad at 1,718.
