KARACHI, June 30: In view of an overall 30 per cent increase in gastroenteritis and diarrhoea cases in the city on Saturday, healthcare professionals have called upon government bodies to ensure the provision of safe drinking water and drastically improve sanitation conditions.

A senior official of the Sindh Health Department told Dawn that in the 24 hours ending at noon on Saturday, government hospitals received 731 patients with such complaints, of which 42 patients needed comprehensive treatment.

Issues of unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation haunt Karachi throughout the year but have multiplied after the recent rains. Health professionals have warned the authorities to address the problem, particularly since more rain is forecast.

A conservationist told Dawn that while chlorinated water is free of many contaminants, the city’s aging network of water pipes, heavy rains and flooding allow contaminants to leach heavily into the water system.

The Sindh minister for environment and alternate energy, Dr Sagheer Ahmed, visited the storm-affected areas of Pakistan Quarters on Saturday and expressed his dissatisfaction with poor sanitation conditions.

Meanwhile, the chief engineer of KWSB bulk water transmission and distribution, Ali Mohammad Palejo, said that care was being taken at main supply sources and water was chlorinated twice before being pumped to various sectors. He said that some distribution lines are affected when pools of water collect above them, or when people use suction pumps to obtain extra water. The extra pumps create a vacuum in the line and contaminated waste water is then absorbed by the distribution line, he said.

According to Dr Syed Javed Ahmed, assistant medical superintendent of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, 47 patients, including 33 children, were brought in during Saturday morning alone, complaining of vomiting and diarrhoea. Meanwhile, a doctor at the National Institute of Child Health said that over 200 hundred children aged between one month and 12 years were received in the out-patient and emergency departments, suffering similar complaints. About 40 of these were kept under observation at the hospital.

Dr Qamrul Arifeen of the Liaquat National Hospital said that viral and bacterial gastroenteritis are common during the rainy seasons since the city suffers from poor sanitation and many areas flood. The situation is worsened by the lack of awareness such as the need to avoid eating over-ripe fruit, food being sold at outdoor dhabas and drinking water that has not been boiled. Dr Arifeen also referred the turbidity in river- and dam-water that the city receives for drinking purposes, saying that chances of contamination are high since water and sewage lines flow into one another at many places.

Official data records the following numbers of gastroenteritis patients:

Saudabad government hospital: 26 cases

Civil Hospital Karachi: 83

New Karachi government hospital: 47

Qatar government hospital, Orangi: 83

Children’s Hospital North Nazimabad: 38

Landhi town healthcare facilities: 52.

Gadap town health facilities: 78