QUETTA, July 16: At least five people, two of them children, have recently died of cholera and over 20 people are suffering from it in Panjpai tehsil of Quetta district near Afghan border.

The deaths have occurred in Pashtoon Kot area, some 70km from here, in the absence of any emergency medical aid, according to sources. Condition of 20 people suffering from the disease is said to be critical. The deceased are identified as Bibi Shakira, Naimatullah, Noor Bibi, Ahmed Ullah and Gul Juma.

Local tribal elder Abdul Baqi Khan expressed the fear that outbreak of cholera might cause loss of life at large scale.

“The doctor and paramedics deployed at the basic health centre in Panjpai live in Quetta and are rarely seen at the centre,” he complained.

Officials of the provincial health department are unaware about the outbreak of cholera and loss of lives in Panjpai as they have sent no medical teams to the affected area.

Last year, outbreak of the disease had killed hundreds of people, mostly children, in flood-hit districts of Nasirabad, Jaffarabad and Jhal Magsi where waterborne diseases were reported at a large scale because of consumption of contaminated water by local people.