BADIN, May 10: Hundreds of people, majority of them children, have fallen prey to gastroenteritis in the city and its adjoining areas with the number of patients increasing by the day.

Civil Hospital Badin on Thursday received more than 30 patients, majority of whom were children and women complaining of diarrhoea and vomiting and 43 suffering from gastroenteritis.

The number does not include the patients being treated at scores of private hospitals in the city. Taluka hospital and rural health centres of the district are receiving at least 150 patients daily and their number is increasing every day.

The EDO of health Dr Hafeezul Haq Memon said that 1,225 cases of diarrhoea including 464 cases at Civil Hospital Badin were reported during two weeks with no casualties.

He refused to call it an outbreak of gastroenteritis and insisted it was just summer diarrhoea. The situation was under control as there was no shortage of medicines, he said.

He stressed the need for launching an awareness campaign against filthy environment and said it was obligatory upon all the civic agencies of the district to disinfect all the dumping sites.

A campaign had been launched at each taluka hospital and several teams had been formed to combat the disease, he said. Doctors blamed eating and drinking of food and beverages at roadside vendors, change in weather and use of polluted water for the spread of the disease.