THIRTY-four people, many of them from the same family, died after taking sweets that had been mixed with pesticide. Dozens more were hospitalised, according to media reports.

Dr Taha Salman, a visiting doctor in Layyah, said the patients need to be transferred to medical centres in Lahore and Karachi because the local hospital doesn’t have the facility to wash their stomachs.

The Punjab chief minister claimed in speeches that his government was providing huge funds to South Punjab for improving health, education, etc. Unluckily such incidents show that all is not well in the Seraiki region. This Layyah incident, that claimed 30 plus lives, proves the chief minister’s claims wrong.

No hospital of south Punjab, including the district hospital, Layyah, has any instrument to wash the stomach of those who had consumed poisoned sweets. Hence the loss of precious lives in the Seraiki region.

Who is responsible for such negligence that resulted in the death of 30 or more people in the absence of basic facilities in the local hospital of Layyah? Also, who will ask the chief minister why is he making baseless claims of providing huge funds to south Punjab because such incidents tarnish the image of the chief minister’s office?

Khazir Klasra
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2016