THATTA, Sept 3: Three patients have died and an unconfirmed number of people have reported at government and private hospitals after an outbreak of gastroenteritis in Kohistan villages in Thatta over the past one week.

The deceased were identified as Khuda Bux Palari, 35, Ms Bhambhi, 60, and Rehan, 30, of Mubarak Palari, Khair Mohammad Khaskheli and Khudai villages in Kohistan (hilly area).

District Health Officer Agha Iftikhar told Dawn that he had sent three ambulances with required drugs, a team of doctors and paramedics to the affected villages to combat the outbreak of the disease.

He said that basic health units in remote Kohistan areas were primarily under the administration of the People’s Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) but district health department was making extra efforts to control the disease.