Threat of water and food-borne infections looms large

Rawalpindi
The population in the district may face threat of water and food-borne infections like diarrhoea, dysentery, gastroenteritis and hepatitis A&E within next few days as the summer season has almost set in.
The sale of ice prepared on commercial scale is picking momemtum and a number of vendors in almost all markets of town have started selling locally prepared soda water that may cause spread of water-borne infections.
It is important that with the setting in of summer every year, the allied hospitals start receiving hundreds of patients daily with water and food-borne infections, particularly with gastroenteritis, and according to health experts, the main reason behind it is that majority of our population is unaware of the preventive measures needed to avoid these infections.
Health experts say that it is time to create awareness among public on necessary preventive measures to avoid water and food-borne infections and to make them aware of the phenomenon of contamination of water and food in summer season. In hot and humid weather; certain bacteria grow more rapidly making water and food products highly unfit for use if they are not kept in hygienic conditions.
The ice and soda water factories have started production however the district health department has not launched any campaign to ensure quality of their products. It is important that a significant percentage of population in the district has to consume ice prepared on commercial scale in summer and the consumption of locally prepared soda water goes up as soon as the mercury rises.
Campaigns launched by the district health department in the past years revealed that the consumption of locally prepared soda water is one of the main factors behind spread of water-borne infections. It was also found that over 60 per cent of the ice and soda water factories were using contaminated water for their production which was proved after testing of water samples through Public Analyst Laboratory in Lahore.
Ensuring standard hygienic conditions at ice and soda water factories operating across district is a must to avoid spread of water-borne infections, said a top official serving at the allied hospitals.
Pleading anonymity, he added that it is need of the time to monitor production of ice and soda water factories on regular basis and the health department should collect samples from them and send them to laboratory for quality assurance.
One can easily witness that majority of soda water factories and local cold drink manufacturers use huge sized coverless containers to store locally prepared sweetener that are covered with thousands of flies. Also majority of ice and soda water factories give least attention to keep working areas clean and the condition in which they work is highly unhygienic.
District Officer Health 2 is responsible for ensuring quality of water and food products and he would monitor collecting of water samples from ice and soda water factories, said District Health Officer Dr. Rafiq Ahmed while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.
‘The News’ repeatedly tried to contact DOH 2 on Saturday and sent a message on his personal cell phone to know what measures the health department is taking to ensure quality of products of ice and soda water factories but he did not make himself available for comments till filing of this report.
Executive District Officer (Health) Dr. Khalid Randhawa when contacted by ‘The News’ on Sunday said the district health department would launch a comprehensive campaign to ensure quality of products of ice and soda water factories in the district from tomorrow (Tuesday).
He added the health department has not started collecting water samples from factories as yet. To ensure transparency, I have worked out a comprehensive plan for checking of water samples after collection from ice and soda water factories, he said.
He explained that water samples would be collected in sterilized bottles and would be sent to laboratory for checking with labels known to only two senior officials of the health department to ensure transparency. Random labels would be allotted to each sample that would be known only to me and another senior official at the health department so that no one can use illegitimate means to get any sample passed, said Dr. Randhawa.