• Health dept confirms outbreak in Malir village due to contaminated water
• Says ensuring potable water supply is domain of local government
• People urged to be mindful of proper hygiene, cook food properly

KARACHI: A woman died of gastroenteritis in a Malir village and hundreds of people across the city have fallen ill due to the infection over the past few days, it emerged on Tuesday.

Health experts told Dawn that the situation seemed to have developed mainly due to the consumption of contaminated food and water coupled with the unhygienic conditions that were developed soon after animal slaughter was performed across the city during Eidul Azha.

Sources said that the gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that over 4,200 patients had visited the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and The Indus Hospital in less than a week and a village in district Malir was experiencing an outbreak of gastroenteritis.

They said that the woman, in her 40s, reportedly died of gastroenteritis in Sheedi Goth, Malir, where a large number of patients reported at the Memon Goth Hospital with complaints of frequent loose motion and vomiting over the past few days.

Health dept blames contaminated water for outbreak

Sindh health department’s spokesperson Mehar Khursheed, while confirming the death, said: “The woman, also a diabetes patient, was brought dead to the hospital.”

The health department, however, blamed supply of contaminated water to the village for the outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea and cholera.

Ms Khursheed said that the health department had taken several steps to tackle the outbreak, which included setting up medical camps in the community, collection of water samples and creating awareness about prevention.

About the gastroenteritis cases reported in the rest of the city, she said: “Ensuring clean water supplies is the domain of the local government. The Sindh health department is engaging it to create awareness so that the water supply chain is fit for consumption.”

However, Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, a senior general physician who examined 13 gastroenteritis patients at his clinic in Kaemari on Monday, emphasised that it’s the government responsibility to ensure proper disposal of solid waste and supply of clean drinking water to the masses.

“People, too, need to be careful about hygiene and cooking food properly. Gastroenteritis mainly representing with diarrhoea and vomiting can cause severe dehydration that can be fatal,” he said.

Situation at city hospitals

Speaking to Dawn, head of the CHK’s emergency department Dr Kalbe Hussain said that though cases had reduced now, patients were still reporting with complaints of vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach/ abdominal cramps.

“As compared to yesterday’s 345 patients, we have so far treated 50 patients at the department [on Tuesday]. During the Eid holidays, we had over 2,000 patients, 700 of them reported on the second day of Eid,” he said, adding that all patients, majority of whom were adult men, were discharged after getting treatment.

He explained that the medical history of most patients indicated that they had consumed meat, which was either not properly cooked or contaminated, and had used unboiled drinking water.

Dr Saima Imran, who heads the emergency department at the JPMC, shared that patient turnover was very high during Eid holidays, reaching 1,800 on a single day.

“Since the hospital has no digital system to keep a patient’s record, it’s hard to give specific data on their illness. Well, you can say two to three per cent of the total cases pertained to gastroenteritis/food poisoning and diarrhoea,” she said.

According to a spokesperson for the Indus Hospital, 188 patients reported at the hospital with complaints of gastroenteritis / food poisoning between June 29 (the first day of Eid) and July 2.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2023