Rawalpindi: After a significant rise in mercury level in this region of the country that has already been touching 40 degree Celsius for days, the summer season health threats may hit the population severely taking shape of outbreaks if proper preventive measures are not taken well in time by both the individuals and the concerned government authorities.
The risk of spread of summer diseases is greater mainly because of poor sanitary conditions prevailing in various areas of the district, supply of contaminated or non-chlorinated water to residents and unhygienic foodstuff on sale in markets.
According to health experts, there is possibility of a significant rise in the number of cases of heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat syncope, prickly heat, sunburn, heatstroke, and other summer season diseases including infections such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, gastro, typhoid, hepatitis A & E etc., if effective prevention and control measures are not adopted seriously both at community and individual levels.
Experts say that to avoid outbreaks of summer diseases, awareness campaigns must be launched through electronic and print media. Without educating the public on how to avoid summer diseases and infections, it is hardly possible to avoid outbreaks in the coming days.
At community level, WASA, cantonment boards and CDA in the federal capital and district health departments in the region should adopt certain preventive measures in order to save people from summer season health hazards. Uninterrupted chlorination of water should be ensured at all main sources of water supply including wells in rural areas of the district. Monitoring of water supplies must be intensified and frequent sampling of water for bacteriological examination be ensured.
To avoid gastroenteritis outbreaks in the region, the concerned government authorities should collect samples of soda water from soda water factories on a regular basis and send those to the laboratory for examination. Food samples should also be collected from different hotels, restaurants and fast food outlets to send to the laboratory for examination. In case of unfit food samples, strict action must be ensured against defaulters and strict measures should be adopted to check the sale of rotten fruits and contaminated edibles, ice balls and open cut fruits such as water melons etc.
At the individual level, strict heat, water and food discipline must be adopted to avoid summer season health hazards. All drinking water needs to be made safe for drinking. This can be done either by boiling or chlorination of water with chlorine tablets or bleaching powder.
It is important that one can easily prepare Chlorine Stock Solution at home that can be kept in a container, which does not admit light. Add three level table spoons (33 grams) of bleaching powder to one litre or four glasses of water and mix well. Add three drops (0.6ml) of the prepared stock solution to one litre of water to stand for 30 minutes before use. Similarly after adding chlorine tablets to water, one must wait for 30 minutes before drinking water.
Another important preventive measure to avoid gastrointestinal infection is to avoid ice from bazaar if possible. Ice should be prepared from boiled or chlorinated water. Fluids from vendors like sherbets, soda, sugarcane juice, rubric milk etc. should also be avoided.
Health experts say that in summer, one should eat smaller meals along with maximum use of green vegetables, fruits and with abundant use of onion and curd. One should also avoid raw foods, particularly cut fruits available with roadside vendors. Food should be eaten while still hot. Food should be kept covered and protected from flies. Cold dishes from the bazaar such as ‘channa chats’, ‘dhai bahlas’, ‘chatni’, ‘raita’, salads, etc., should be avoided.