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KARACHI Three more children died at a flood relief camp following an outbreak of gastroenteritis and around 70 cases of acute dehydration were referred to different hospitals on Wednesday, Dawn has learnt. Government officials, however, confirmed only one death.
The epidemic occurred at a housing complex located in Labour Square, Gulshan-i-Maymar, Gadap Town, currently being used as a flood relief camp.
Over 8,000 people, who were provided shelter at the 1,000-flat complex, had been drinking “polluted” water from a storage tank until recently when chlorine tablets were put into it and water filters were installed, sources said.
Edhi sources said the bodies of three children were transported to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and thence to the Sohrab Goth morgue with the help of the organisation's ambulance service on Wednesday morning.
Earlier, one-week-old Wajid suffering from tetanus and two-year-old Wazir Ahmed, a patient of gastroenteritis, had died at the same camp. A death was also reported on Monday at the flood relief camp set up in Bhains Colony, Bin Qasim Town.
A visit to the flood relief camp in Gulshan-i-Maymar on Wednesday showed that no official arrangement had been made to ensure that detailed information about the lives being lost to different ailments was readily available.
However, Edhi staff at the camp identified the bodies as those of four-year-old daughter of Zahid, Reshma, and 30-month-old son of Hanif Soomro, Ali Soomro.
The body of the third child was marked as “unidentified” in the records available with the Edhi staff. The child was later found to be two-year-old girl Khudiat.
Around 70 people fainted due to dehydration and were transported to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Sindh Government General Hospital, North Karachi, according to the Edhi sources.
The deaths of two children were also registered with the police staff deputed at the camp. “We were informed about the deaths of a boy and a girl on Wednesday. But, right now, I don't have complete details of the deaths,” said Gulshan-i-Maymar SHO Amanullah Marwat.
Hailing from Mirpur Bulero village of Jacobabad, Khudiat's mother, Ajeeban, too, was suffering from dehydration. She was receiving treatment at the medical camp when this reporter visited the place.
Speaking of Khudiat's death, her grandmother Hiyat Khatoon told Dawn that the girl was administered “a drip last night at the camp. But her condition deteriorated.
“We brought her here again early morning and were told that she had died,” said Hiyat Khatoon, while complaining that she and her family had not got food the previous night.
Gadap Town Health Officer Dr Khalil Ansari, who was supervising the medical services being provided to flood survivors at the camp, denied the information that three deaths had occurred at the camp and said only the death of a girl was reported at the camp.
He was of the view that the girl should have been referred to a health facility when she first reported with critical signs at the medical camp.
“I am only aware of the death of a two-year-old girl who was brought dead to the medical camp. She was reportedly suffering from gastroenteritis. But it is very much possible that, in other cases, parents with children in hopeless condition acted on their instinct instead of reporting at the medical camp,” he said, adding that 42 persons with complaints of acute dehydration had been referred to different government hospitals.
He said “Diarrhoea patients cannot be cured in one day and require admission to hospital. We are referring such patients to hospitals.”
Vaccination
He said that doctors and paramedical staff were working round the clock. “Now, we have also got the support of paediatricians. A team of lady health workers have started visiting each flat to vaccinate mothers and children, besides educating women about basic hygiene,” he said.
About the newborn's death from tetanus, a doctor deputed at the camp said that the child was first taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and thence to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
“While the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital is already receiving an overwhelming number of patients, the hospital staff could not handle the case and referred the child to the JPMC,” he said, adding that the child's mother was not administered a tetanus vaccine.
75pc cases of gastroenteritis
While people suffering from different ailments were being treated at the medical camp, an overwhelming majority of them was gastroenteritis patients.
Dr Farah Naz, who has been deputed at the medical camp from the Sohrab Goth general hospital, said that 75 per cent cases were related to gastroenteritis. Skin and chest infections were also common, she said.
Most pregnant women being examined were found to be acutely anaemic, which, she said, was a sign of danger to the lives of both mother and the foetus.
“Most of their health problems directly relate to the consumption of contaminated water and food and living in unhygienic conditions. There will be a marked reduction in the number of patients if the root-cause is addressed,” she added.
Regarding the quality of drinking water and management issues, Dr Khalil Ansari said that the water's quality must have improved after the installation of filters at the camp.
“We are making all-out efforts, but catering to the needs of thousands of people who have lost every material asset and, at the same time, are unaware of the basic principles of health and hygiene is a gigantic task,” he said.
