What Tharparkar really needs

LAHORE
THARPARKAR, undoubtedly, is a district where poverty, prosperity, natural beauty and human blight rub shoulders.
One of the 23 districts of Sindh, Tharparkar, is a city comprising six tehsils, including Chachro, Diplo, Mithi, Islamkot, Nangarparkar and Dahili and a home to 1.6 million people. It is irrelevant to discuss the economic significance of the area following the exploration of coal reserves, a majority of people belonging to a poor background are struggling hard to make their both ends meet and depend on livestock and agriculture.
Livestock population, according to official data is around 7 million.
At the same time, life in the district headquarters Mithi seems far comfortable and the area seems a busy business hub. However, the fact which multiplies the beauty of this place and gives it an edge over most of the other parts of the country is the level of harmony between the Muslim and the Hindi population of the area. The district comprises of almost 40 percent of Hindu population and in the district headquarters Mithi, people practising Hindu religion are higher than the Muslims but level of respect and tolerance for others seem equally high, which unfortunately, isn’t a common sight in other parts of the country. The area enjoys a great historical and political significance in Sindh but for last couple of years, it has been in the news for hundreds of minors’ deaths attributed to famine.
‘What is the real issue of Thar and what caused deaths in the district’ is the most striking question in the minds of every journalist or the readers while any report pertains to the death of any minor comes to surface these days and the most commonly heard answer for this query is famine. An interaction with different people of the district during a recent visit of this scribe to the region revealed that situation in this part of the country isn’t as grim as it has been portrayed but at the same time, it was found that serious efforts were needed to ensure safety of thousands of more children whose lives were at risk due to lack of medical facilities. Most of the local people of Thar, hailing from different segments of society, including activists of political parties, doctors, educationists, agriculturists, lawyers and NGOs seem unanimous on the point that the real issue of the district isn’t drought, which has been extraordinarily highlighted in the media. At the same time; however, they are deeply worried over the deaths of children in the area and want emergency measures for their protection.
When local people of the area were asked the question related with the core issue concerning Thar, health was declared as the prime problem of the local people, followed by the provision of cleaning drinking water to the population. A large number of families also depend on the remittances by their members who work in major cities like Karachi, Hyderabad and the local people also want setting up of vocational training institutes, schools and above all, industry.
In the health sector, the people hailing from different districts, when interacted, voiced for setting up of proper children hospital, maternity home, employment of doctors, female nurses and on development side, they stressed over laying of water pipeline, while expressing mixed views towards the Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants which have been installed by the government of Sindh to address the water issue.
A trip by this scribe to Civil Hospital, situated in Mithi, the district headquarters of Tharpakar rightly justifies the demand.
According to Dr Ram Ratan, the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, the total bed capacity of Civil Hospital was 174. Thousands of patients across the district visit it on daily basis for treatment. When asked the deaths of minors reported in the hospital, he said since September 2014 till February 4, total 568 children who were treated here, only 12 deaths were reported due to food scarcity; 35 of them, he said were referred to urban centres for treatment.
The hospital which is the only well-equipped medical centre of the district headquarters has 13 incubators, a couple of oxygen cylinders and doctors are available round the clock. Nevertheless, the interesting thing revealed after visiting the hospital was the related with the number of female nurses. The area which is a home to a huge population, there are only five female nurses whereas there was no proper children ward. The hospital, which is basically a cardiac centre, has acquired additional land for the treatment of children. Sources said the midwives working in the hospitals were not paid salary for last three months.
District Health Officer of Tharparkar, Dr Jameel Ahmed when contacted, said there was no doubt that issues were there but at the same time government was doing all it could to provide relief to the people. He said situation was improved and would get better with the passage of time. The Sindh government claimed there was a wide network of BHUs across the district but the major problem it faced was the reluctance of doctors from other parts of the province to work there. Absence of a proper local government system is also one the main cause behind mismanagement of issues, believe most of the residents.
‘Drought is not a new thing now in this region, mismanagement may be one the issues behind initial calamities but to attribute every death to drought is not right’ said Dominick Stephen, Chief Executive of Participatory Village Development Programme, an NGO working in Tharparkar and other districts of Sindh. ‘There is a dire need to set up a full-fledged hospital for children as well as maternity home which will be vital in reducing the number of calamities’ said Dominick Stephen.
‘There is no extreme severity as reported in the media regarding famine, but while properly taking care of the mother-child health, a lot can be improved. He said due to a good road network, patients from remote areas could easily reach Mithi and get proper treatment if the proper facility regarding women and children was provided. Ravish, a professor of Chemistry at a local college and Kunwar Amar, a businessman as well as a former Union Council member in 2005-2009 tenure while talking to The News also expressed similar views. Prof Ravish stated that there was a dire need to focus on health sector and doctors must be bound to give at least three years non-transferable services to the area. He said it was really unfair that domicile holder of Thar sought employment in developed centres but didn’t prefer to serve in their own area which needed them a lot.
Kunwar Amar stressed proper measures towards the issue of water supply. He said if the water issue was addressed, a lot would improve itself in the region.
According to the Sindh government, till the beginning of the year 2015, 85 Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plants have been installed in the district and it intended toinstall further 350 within next couple of years. A team of journalists from Lahore, including this scribe also visited the solar-run water filtration plants set up at Mithi, Subbaro and Islamkot which were filtering millions of gallons of water per day.
The RO plants, for the poor village people who live in their small houses made up of clay, straw and bushes called ‘Chora’ is nothing less than a blessing. When interacted, Hathi, an old villager hailing from Subbaro, told The News that women of his village had to go miles to get water but now it was at their doorstep. The people in other villages, for whom, clean water remained a dream also expressed similar views. The people living in urban parts of the district; however, have different views. Most of the PPP voters from Mithi Town raised questions regarding the proper functioning of the plants.
Some of them, including Kunwar Amar suggested that proper way to address water issue was to lay pipeline and get water from canal. Some of the people stated the major issue concerning the RO was maintenance and their long-term functioning which was suspicious. They raised complaint regarding the leakage of water from some locally installed plants in a region where water means a lot.
Former District Nazim of Tharkaparkar, Arbab Anwar was also contacted by The News to discuss the real issue concerning Thar. Arbab Anwar, a nephew of former chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who also served as district Nazim between 2005 and 2009, while talking to The News also called for the setting up a proper children hospital as well as gynaecology centre to avert the chances of deaths. He stated that water issue needed proper attention and by merely installing RO, the issue of water scarcity couldn’t be addressed. He said a proper network of water pipelines was needed so that the population could directly benefit from it. He said in the RO installed by the government, water was provided to the people some days but in most of time, they remained non-functional and there was no body to look after them. This is noteworthy that first RO plant in the district was installed at Islamkot by former provincial minister Ifranullah Khan Marwat in the era of Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim in 2006. His name plate was still installed at the spot and hasn’t been removed. The RO installed by the PPP government with Pak Oasis receives applauds as well as criticism but for the rural population, its significance is remarkable.
The News also contacted former chief minister of Sindh and one of the most noted political figures of district Tharparkar Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim who is in Dubai these days. Talking to The News from Dubai, Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim came hard on the PPP government for mismanaging the issue of Thar which eventually resulted in hundreds of deaths. He said development done in his tenure as CM was ‘remarkable’ as hospitals, DHQs, BHUs were set up at large scale. He said in early 1990s, in the era of Jam Sadiq, this area was given the status of district headquarters and later while he took charge as CM, a vast road network was formed to facilitate the people. He said for civil hospital of Mithi, he took all measures for equipping it and making it a complete medical centre for people while launching dialysis centre, increasing its capacity.
Dr Arbab said that deaths in Tharpar needed fair probe but the PPP government didn’t let anyone to hold it. He said a group of students from Liaqat Medical College Jamshoro also visited the area but they were not allowed access to the affected children by the administration. Envisaging massive corruption behind the RO plants, he stated that a plant cost Rs1.5 million to Rs2 million but its cost was mentioned as Rs8 million or more which was only meant to mint public money. The PPP leadership on the other hand rejected the allegations levelled by Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim. Mahesh Malani, the PPP MPA elected from the area while talking to The News said that party was taking all possible measures for the relief of the local population. He said Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim himself was sitting abroad and had no concern with the woes of the people living in the district. He said rather than levelling allegations, he must return to Pakistan and serve the people of his area.
Senator Taj Hyder, the Secretary General of PPP Sindh while talking to The News regarding the ‘hype’ created over Thar described it more as a ‘famine of facts.’ He said the Sindh government had prioritised health and Rs5 billion had been earmarked for the sector through which the core issues of Thar would be addressed.
He said he was in touch with the local administration and on daily basis, report was provided to him. He also said the PPP government had distributed wheat among the poor people of the region and if round the clock, the teams were working to address any issue. He said in Tharparkar, since December 1, 2013 till December 1, 2014, a total 520 deaths had been reported, including 310 children, 112 women and 98 men. He said the cause of most of the deaths, particularly among women and children wasn’t famine, but there had been neonatal fatalities. He said that by November 30, 2014, total 126,918 male, 139,860 female patients and 125,500 minors were provided treatment in the hospitals.
He said the Sindh government had also provided free-of-cost wheat to the 1.3 million people, out of the total 1.6 million population of the district and process was continued. ‘Whether a child dies in Russia, China or India, no one feels happy, death is regrettable in every part of the world, including Thar, but government has taken all possible measures to address the grievances of the population’ said Taj Hyder.
Taj Hyder, who got elected as Senator for second term in 2012 and was looking after the Thar coal project said the major problem faced by the population of area was related with the non-availability of clean drinking water which was addressed. ‘Even the animals of the area are provided with the clean drinking water, the change in the region witnessing right now is remarkable’ said the veteran PPP leader. ‘The entire region of Thar is going to be solarised and the local people will benefit from it’ said Taj Hyder. Provincial Minister of Sindh Sharmeela Farooqi said since day one, she had been saying on media and every other forum that facts need to be reported regarding the region. She said PPP government never ignored the region and it was still doing its best for the relief of the local population, majority of whom were struggling against poverty.