Bodies continue to pile up with no respite from heat, power cuts

Karachi
At least 271 more deaths caused by the blistering heat wave in Karachi were reported over the last 24 hours, doctors said on Monday evening, taking the total death toll during the last three days to 452.
Health officials said thousands of patients suffering from heat stroke, electrolyte imbalance and dehydration were admitted to the city’s public and private hospitals. To cope with the sudden crisis, Rangers, army as well as medical and social organisations set up relief camps in different areas in the city as many hospitals had reached their capacity and could not admit more patients.
Although there light showers in some parts of the city, there was no respite from the intense heat or the K-Electric’s unannounced, prolonged power cuts across the metropolis.
Weather to stay hot
The maximum temperature in the city was recorded at 43 degrees Celsius on Monday. The roads remained deserted as people preferred to remain indoors, even though it was first working day of the week.
The meteorological department had predicted that the temperature would remain between the range of 42 and 44 degrees Celsius on Tuesday (today). However, the weather will be partly cloudy and there are chances of rains and thunderstorms during the next 24 hours.
Crisis situation
Ambulances of public and private welfare organisations continued rushing patients to hospitals all day long. An emergency has been declared at the government-run hospitals and medical and paramedical staff on lave have been called back to deal with the growing number of patients.
Civil hospital medical superintendant Prof Saeed Qureshi told The News that the number of deaths during the last 48 hours at his hospital had surpassed 65 as 30 more patients had died because of heat stroke and related complications since Monday morning.
“We are overburdened by the number of patients being brought to us as the flow is more than our capacity to handle,” he added. “Many patients who are being refused treatment by other hospitals are being brought to the Civil hospital.”
Around 76 patients suffering from heat-related complications died at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre on Monday alone and an overwhelming number of others were being treated at its different wards.
The JPMC authorities said the number of deaths caused by heat-related complications on Sunday and Monday had reached 171. The JPMC too, they added, was filled to its capacity with patients, mostly elderly people.
Similarly, over 71 patients died at different hospitals and dispensaries of the Karachi Metropolitan Hospital including the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, KMC medical services senior director Dr Salma Kauser told The News.
She said earlier, the bodies of many patients who had died of heat had been taken away by their relatives without the completion of formalities from the KMC-run hospitals. However, she added, since Sunday they had issued 71 death certificates of people who had died of heat-related complications.
Dr Kauser said all 258 hospitals of the KMC had run out of space to accommodate mote patients. As far as private hospitals are concerned, both the Aga Khan and Liaquat National hospitals refused to admit more patients after they ran out of space.
Anjum Rizvi, a spokesperson for the Liaquat National Hospital, said during the last three days, over a 100 patients had been brought to their facility, of which 12 were already dead at the time of arrival while 10 died during treatment. He said the LNH had established a 35-bed heat stroke centre.
A spokesperson for the AKUH said the hospital had refused to admit more patients suffering from heat stroke as it was packed to its capacity. He added that at the moment, the hospital could not provide the number of patients who had died of heat-related complications.
At least 32 heat stroke patients died and hundreds of others were being treated at the Indus Hospital, said its spokesperson Saqib Zeeshan. At least 23 patients died at the Ziauddin Hospital braches in North Nazimabad and Clifton during the last two days.
Heat stroke centres
A spokesperson for the Sindh Rangers said the paramilitary force had set up heat stroke centres at 10 different locations in the city. He added that at each centre, doctors, paramedical staff and the equipment and medicines required to treat heat stroke were available.
The centres are located at the Rangers Training Centre and College, Toll Plaza phone: 36871683; Sindh Rangers Hospital, Block A, North Nazimabad, phone 36670725; HQ 53 Wing, Baldia Town, phone 32814044; HQ 93 Wing, People’s Football Stadium, Mauripur Road, phone: 32032629; HQ 91 Wing, SITE Stadium, phone: 32597050; HQ 72 Wing, Kala Pul, phone 99202545 and 99205489; HQ 83 Wing, Jamia Millia Malir, phone: 34491746; HQ 82 Wing, Muzaffarabad Colony, phone: 35080167; HQ 63 Wing, Karachi University phone: 99261056 and HQ 44 Wing, North Karachi, phone: 36493000.
Welfare organisations including the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association and Al-Khidmat Welfare Society also set up relief camps at hospitals and other locations.
KE rapid response teams
The K-Electric said of the 1,400 feeders in the city, 1,380 feeders were functioning properly and no unannounced power outages were being carried out in any area of the city.
In a statement, the power utility said 98 percent of the city was receiving uninterrupted power supply during sehar and iftar timings.
It said KE offices were open 24 hours for its customers and despite the violence, abusive language and deadly hot weather conditions, the power utility’s staff was available to fix the faults.
The KE said it was regrettable that the power utility was being held responsible for the deaths caused by the heat wave in the city.
The power utility said a dumper had collided with the Gadap transmission line, damaging three towers and collapsing one, leading to the suspension of power supply to six feeders of the area. “This was an external fault for which the KE cannot be held responsible,” the statement read.
The KE also condemned PML-N MPA Humayun Khan’s brother and his friends’ “attack on the KE staff at the IBC Clifton”.