Over 200 diarrhoea patients hospitalised in Shangla

SHANGLA: Over 200 people of Shahpur were hospitalised with diarrhoea after they consumed contaminated water here on Tuesday.

Alpuri tehsil chairman Waqar Ahmad Khan told this correspondent that the water in the supply schemes of Shahpur got contaminated due to heavy downpour and flood in the local streams. He said after consuming the contaminated water over 200 people suffered from diarrhoea and they were taken to the local hospitals.

He said emergency had been declared in the Alpuri tehsil hospitals, including civil dispensary Shahpur, and the district headquarters hospital, Alpuri, where the diarrhoea patients were being treated.

Dr Mohammad Hussain, focal person of the health department on emergencies in Shangla, told Dawn that 117 patients had so far been treated in the government hospitals on Tuesday and doctors in all the health facilities had been alerted by the department after the diarrhoea outbreak in Shahpur.

Hussain Khan, a resident of Shahpur, told this correspondent that Shahpur, the headquarters of Kana tehsil, lacked drinking water since long and the entire population was compelled to drink contaminated water.

They had consumed contaminated water from stream, says Alpuri tehsil chairman

“The water used for drinking is supplied from the summer stream, which is these days flooded due to rains,” he said. He claimed that 70 per cent of the population was diagnosed with diarrhoea and the hospitals even ran short of drips and medicines required for their treatment.

Mr Khan said the local people cleaned the water tank on a self-help basis, which was full of mud.

Musa Yousafzai, another resident, said at present they had no other option but to drink water being supplied from a stream. He demanded a proper water supply scheme for entire Shahpur area.

TWO DROWN IN INDUS: Two girls aged eight and 10 years drowned in the Indus River on the first day of Eidul Azha here in Seror area of Bisham.

The girls were fetching water for drinking purpose when they slipped into the river. The bodies could not be recovered as Rescue 1122 divers continued search for them. The Indus River is in high flood due to glaciers melting in northern areas these days.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Rasool Sharif identified the girls as Nazira, 10, and Farzana, 8. He said the divers could not find the bodies due to high flood in the Indus River.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2022