KARACHI, June 28: A surge in cases of gastroenteritis or diarrhoea arriving at various hospitals and other health care facilities has been reported over the past few days and health experts are attributing the trend to the deteriorating quality of drinking water following the rains as well as carelessness on the part of its consumers.

Medical Officer of the Civil Hospital Karachi Dr Kaleem Butt said that as many as 82 children and 41 adults were brought to the Diarrhoea Treatment Centre and the Emergency Section of the hospital on Thursday. A 40-year-old resident of Sultanabad died from diarrhoea at the hospital at around 2.30 pm, he added. Most cases reported at various hospitals are children. According to another report, an eight-year-old boy, reportedly a gastroenteritis patient, died in a village in Gadap Town on Wednesday.

A doctor at the Emergency Section of the National Institute of Child Health said that about 20 children aged one to eight years were brought there after 3pm with the history of loose motions and vomiting. However, after necessary medication, all of them are now in a stable condition, he added. He observed that the number of gastroenteritis cases had registered a rise from Wednesday.

A house officer at the Diarrhoea Treatment Unit of the NICH told Dawn that about 50 children up to the age of 12 were treated since Thursday morning and 20 of them had to be admitted.

An official of the Sindh Health Department said that the number of patients with symptoms of gastroenteritis arriving at the government hospitals in the city after rains was increasing gradually. On Wednesday and Thursday alone, as many as 1,571 patients were brought to various hospitals in the province, he said, adding that in Karachi, 700 cases were reported at the hospitals and health care facilities managed either by the Sindh government of the City District Government Karachi.

According to a break-up, the CHK received 72, the Saudabad Government Hospital 48 and Qatar Hospital Orangi 90 patients. As many as 61 patients with the symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting were taken to the New Karachi Hospital, another 31 to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, 45 to North Karachi Children Hospital and 50 to Landhi Hospital over the past 24 hours, according to the reports received by the health department by noon on Thursday.

The number of gastroenteritis cases registered at different hospitals in Karachi on June 20-22 was between 350 and 450.

A senior official at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre said that the number of such patients arriving there was not alarming.

Experts view that gastroenteritis is caused mostly by substandard water and food prepared or stored unhygienically. The factors involved include absence of electricity for long hours as this renders refrigerators and freezers inoperative. Food and other eatables kept in the appliances go bad and become unfit for human consumption. The experts advise people to avoid consuming such dicey food items and ensure the quality of food available at food outlets in this season.

A doctor advised parents to start administering ORS or some home-made solutions to their children upon detecting symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting immediately. In case of deterioration in the condition, a patient must be rushed to a competent doctor.

Healthcare professionals also advise people to consume boiled water in view of the possibility of piped water getting mixed with rainwater or sewage during and after rainfall.