April 30, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 12, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, April 29: The number of patients suffering from water-borne diseases in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad has multiplied over the last four weeks as rising temperature is providing favourable conditions for bacteria and others germs to nourish in water pipelines and storage tanks.

Polyclinic Hospital in the federal capital daily receives 250-300 patients suffering from waterborne diseases. Same is the case with other hospitals where doctors have been advising people to drink boiled and filtered water and avoid consuming drinks and food items sold in the open.

“Within my duty-shift of six hours, I receive 75 to 100 gastro patients. There number is constantly increasing as hot weather is very favourable for the growth of bacteria,” a casualty medical officer (CMO) at Polyclinic Hospital, Dr Asma, told Dawn.

She said in summers, bacteria grew at a faster pace due to increase in temperature. It normally infects municipal water pipelines and community and private water storage tanks. Food and beverages being sold in markets and on streets also have more chances of being contaminated with bacteria, she added.

In summer when people go out of their houses for their routine jobs they forget to take a bottle of water with them and quench their thirst with water and beverages from the market, said Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi, CMO Dr Qamar said.

In most of the cases, beverages sold by vendors on streets are infected with bacteria or they are simply not hygienic, he added.

Dr Qamar said cases of waterborne diseases had drastically increased in Rawalpindi over the last one month.

Doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), District Headquarters Hospital and Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH) were unable to give the exact number of patients they received each day.

However, they said the number of gastro patients had multiplied during the last few weeks with majority of the victims being children.

They said waterborne diseases had a range of syndromes including acute dehydrating diarrhoea (cholera), prolonged febrile illness with abdominal symptoms (typhoid fever), acute bloody diarrhoea (dysentery) and chronic diarrhoea (Brainerd diarrhoea).

Doctors said contaminated surface water sources and poorly functioning distribution systems of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) contributed to transmission of waterborne bacterial diseases.

Chlorination and safe water handling can eliminate the risk of waterborne bacterial diseases.

Meanwhile, people complain that the government is unable to ensure food quality in the twin cities. They say that it is not possible for every citizen to avoid eating or drinking outside.

A majority of them also believe that they are not being provided clean drinking water at their homes despite the fact that they are paying charges to CDA and Wasa for this service.