SKARDU, April 1: The district health department has sent teams of doctors with two tons of medicines to Gultari area for treating local people, especially children, after receiving reports that over a dozen children died in the remote area along the Line of Control in Baltistan during the past months because of severe cold.
District Health Officer Dr Iqbal Baig told Dawn on Friday: “On Jan 26, I was informed that some children had died in Gultari due to severe cold.
We dispatched medicines with teams of doctor in collaboration with the district administration and the army.
Since then, we have delivered two tons of medicines to Gultari.”
Dr Baig termed the number of deaths reported in the media exaggerated.
He said children had died in the most backward area of Gultari due to severe cold as the temperature had fallen to minus 40 degrees Centigrade during the past two months.
He denied allegations that children in the area had had not been given vaccines and safety injection during the past four years. “The department has been dispatching medical teams every year to Gultari,” he said.
CABLE: Work for laying fibre optic cable by the Special Communication Organization on the Skardu-Gilgit road is creating problems for traffic.
The work started last year has not been completed yet.
The road had been dug at different places from Skardu to Aalam Bridge.
A bus driver said driving heavy vehicles on the road had become dangerous.
