There is an outbreak of diarrhea and cholera is making a comeback in Pakistan, as thousands of people have been infected because of contaminated water. The Communicable Disease Control (CDC) Department Punjab unveiled that more than 2,000 children have been hospitalized with the condition since 1 April, meanwhile, confirming 9 positive cases of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD).
These findings were stated by public sector teaching hospitals in Lahore alone however the cases recorded in private sector healthcare institutions and to general doctors may be much greater than the CDC data.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) it has been classified as a worldwide hazard to public health, and an indication of socioeconomic disparity and lack of social development.
The administration of the government-run Children’s Hospital said that it is treating 500 children with acute diarrhea on daily basis.
“We are attending daily around 500 children with acute diarrhea and the number was higher than that of last year,” Prof. Junaid Arshad at the Children’s Hospital informed the media.
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Besides, Punjab CDC Director, Dr. Shahid Maghsi, claimed the diarrhea of 2,000 severe diarrhea cases has been obtained just from the government hospitals of Lahore and that the CDC has been constantly contacting the concerned family doctors to assess the actual disease burden.
Conversely, Dr. Tariq Mian- the President of the Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP) said that the health authorities are not revealing the true information to present a lesser frequency of diarrhea in the city. According to him half of the 60,000 family doctors in Punjab are working in Lahore and 40 percent of their patients have been complaining of diarrhea.
Dr. Maghsi further stated that the authorities have started an awareness drive by engaging clinicians, the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), and the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) as the polluted water and unhealthy food items are considered to be the main cause of the diarrhea epidemic.
He said that the CDC has “written to the Lahore Commissioner to activate officials to ensure that the drinking water in the city is not contaminated because of broken sewerage,” and mentioned that the epidemic can only be prevented by giving better sanitation and sewerage systems.
Meanwhile, cholera, an extremely contagious infection, has also been reported in the capital city.
