KARACHI: Reham Khan, wife of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, visited a major hospital of the city to see heatstroke victims on Saturday when she was informed by the hospital administration that all the heatstroke patients had been treated and discharged.

Ms Khan visited the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), which reported the death of majority of the heatstroke victims (381) and treated more than 12,000 patients, along with provincial lawmaker Khurram Sher Zaman, local leader Faisal Wada and scores of party activists and security personnel.

The hospital administration received them and informed them that the first victims had arrived there two weeks ago.

They were told that two last victims died the previous night, while the last survivors had been discharged a couple of days ago.

The provincial government had lifted the state of ‘heatwave emergency’ a couple of days ago. Almost all the camps and special facilities established by the government to take care of heatstroke victims had already been pulled up. But Ms Khan said her party had established ‘one more’ camp for the heatstroke victims in the metropolis.

Speaking to reporters at the JPMC, she criticised the Sindh government for its alleged failure in handling the disaster and claimed that credit went to the charities for everything done for the welfare of those hit by the recent heatwave.

She was not impressed with the conditions at the JPMC and said the authorities should invest more in its improvement. She asked the federal and provincial governments to take responsibility of the crisis and instead of indulging in blame game provide relief to people with better policies and plans in future.

She demanded that responsibility be fixed for widespread heatwave deaths on the authorities which showed criminal ignorance.

Asked why she was visiting when two weeks had already passed since the heatwave, she apologized but said her husband who was a more important individual in the party had already visited the hospital.

Five more die

Meanwhile, the death of five more patients hit by the heatwave was reported by hospitals across the province on Saturday.

With the addition of the latest victims, including four in Karachi and one in Jacobabad, the death toll caused by the heatwave has reached 1,379 in Sindh including 1,276 in Karachi since June 20 when the first such patients had arrived at the city hospitals.

Officials said two patients died at the JPMC, one at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and another at Qatar Hospital in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2015

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