THATTA: More than 100 children have been hospitalised in various health facilities while one of them died after an outbreak of gastroenteritis and diarrhoea since the torrential rains hit the coastal district of Thatta, reliable sources told Dawn here on Tuesday.

Beban Nisa 11, a resident of the village of Gulmanda on the outskirts of Makli, was brought to the Civil Hospital of Makli and referred to Karachi, but she could not survive.

Official sources, who asked not to be named, said that over 100 gastroenteritis and diarrhoea patients had so far been admitted in eight government hospitals of the district.

Sources claimed that a large number of patients were brought to government and private hospitals, but due to insufficient facilities, including shortage of doctors and medicines, they received inadequate treatment or were referred to nearby Karachi.

According to details, 35 patients infected with gastro and diarrhoea were hospitalised at the Civil Hospital of Makli, 21 in Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Hospital Mirpur Sakro, three in the rural health centre of Gharo, seven in Keti Bandar, 11 in Baghan, seven in Jherruk Rural Health Centre and 18 in Jungshahi Rural Health Centre.

Unhygienic conditions after the rains led to the outbreak of gastro, diarrhoea, malaria, skin and eye diseases in the district.

Similar situation was witnessed in the coastal district of Sujawal where a large number of patients were brought to various public and private hospitals.

On one hand people in those areas faced diseases while on the other poor families, particularly in Thatta and Sujawal’s deltaic villages, are facing starvation.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2019