KARACHI: The death toll in flood-ravaged areas of Sindh continues to rise due to outbreak of diseases and viral infections as 17 more died of diseases on Friday, sources close to Sindh Health department informed The News. These latest figures take the overall death toll of flood victims due to various diseases to 400.
The outbreak of several water-borne diseases including malaria, gastro, diarrhoea and dengue fever continue to take a heavy toll on the flood survivors in the 23 ravaged districts of the province. According to the unofficial reports gathered from different districts on Friday as many as 17 people lost their lives in Dadu, Jamshoro, Sanghar, Khairpur, Larkana, Sukkur, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Naushahro Feroze, Badin, Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas and other districts hit hard by devastating floods. Besides, three children drowned to death in different incidents while a woman fell victim to snakebite and died in a relief camp at Fareedabad town of Dadu district. The family members of those thousands of sick and dead in the recent days deplore that they were forced to drink highly contaminated water at the temporary settlements along the roadsides.
The Sindh health department officials on Friday officially confirmed that the death toll rose to over 400 mainly due to an outbreak of diarrhoea. They said that one more person who was suffering from dengue fever died in a hospital in Hyderabad during the treatment and the death toll from the deadly fever rose to 31 in recent weeks mostly in Karachi city. The health officials in their daily assessment report 605,939 patients of gastro, 666,370 patients of skin diseases, 14,090 patients of Malaria, and 1,089 patients of dengue who are under treatment either at the hospitals or at their settlements across the province. The official also said buildings of over 400 hospitals and health units were also damaged due to floodwaters in various districts of the province.