KARACHI: “So far what we know is that he consumed toxic liquor that I’m told can be obtained on the cheap near the area,” said Jamal, a Korangi 2½ resident who rushed his neighbour’s 20-year-old son Adnan Riasat to hospital on Thursday morning, while speaking to Dawn over the phone as most of the attendants standing outside the National Poison Control Centre were not ready to speak to the media due to the social stigma attached to alcoholism.

The attendants outside the poison control centre — also known as Ward No 5 of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre — refused to even acknowledge that they have a relative in the hospital after he consumed tainted liquor.

Know more: Officials suspended as Karachi liquor death-toll reaches 29

Jamal, presently employed at the Citizens Foundation, was asked by his family to take Adnan to hospital. “He [Adnan] said I’m feeling nauseous and fainted moments later. Thankfully, I was near home when I got a call from my family,” he said.

“This is the first case that I have seen happening around me. I have heard that most of the cases are from Landhi and Korangi, but this is the first case from our locality,” he added reluctantly as an afterthought.

Adnan was the 23rd patient to be admitted to the JPMC on Thursday after consuming toxic liquor. “The death toll has jumped to 29 today,” said Dr Seemin Jamali, heading the JPMC emergency ward.

Of the 29 deceased, the families of six immediately took away the bodies without fulfilling legal formalities, while the relatives of those under treatment at the hospital avoided interacting with the media. Jamal was among the very few attendants who agreed to talk but only over the phone.

One of the patients, Gulfam Ali, 22, lost his eyesight, said Dr Jamali while quoting a doctor who had checked him during the Thursday morning round of the ward.

She said: “We started receiving patients on the evening of Oct 7, and within the next 24 hours, the death toll increased to 23. This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred. Similar cases were reported in 2007 and 2009 also. At that time too, we saw a huge increase in the death toll going up to 39.”

Slums around industrial areas

Speaking about the spirit consumed by the people, she said: “Methanol, which is the main ingredient of this alcoholic drink, is a highly toxic spirit and is unfit for human consumption. It affects every cell of the body leading to, if the person survives, loss of eyesight, otherwise death. It is mainly used in industrial areas for specific purposes. The fact that it is easily available to many is a cause for concern.”

Requesting anonymity, a family member of a patient, speaking over the phone, said: “Majority of those admitted belong to slums around industrial areas. Whether it is Korangi, Landhi, Baloch Colony, Chanesar Goth or Zaman Town, they have small dens around street corners where Kuppi is sold for a mere Rs50. In some cases, the illegal liquor is sold in a beautiful bottle for Rs300, which in reality is a different brand than the one being consumed, leading, in majority of cases, to fatalities.”

Imam Bukhsh, a Landhi resident, said his son was brought home in an unconscious condition on the second day of Eid after he consumed liquor bought from a “roadside shop”.

“We quickly shifted him to the JPMC, where he is still undergoing treatment.” Faiz Mohammad, in his mid-20s, was brought back to life after the doctors said his organs were giving away. Though he is mistakenly referred to as ‘expired’ on the ‘list of dead brought to JPMC’ released by the emergency ward, a police officer corrected the mistake after informing the main desk.

His father said: “His condition is not completely fine, I know. The doctors are not yet sure. I was told that he brought liquor from a shop. Honestly, at this moment, I feel really embarrassed. But what I really hope is to see him get better.”

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2014