PTI MPA chides KWSB for failure to chlorinate water causing Naegleria deaths

Raising concern over the increasing cases of the fatal disease of Naegleria fowleri infection in Karachi, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Dr Imran Shah has called for supplying chlorinated water to the city as chlorination kills the microorganism that causes the disease.

According to a statement issued on Monday, the PTI lawmaker said 12 deaths had been reported recently in the city because of Naegleria fowleri, a microorganism that lives in water and is also commonly known as brain-eating amoeba.

He said the cases of naegleria infection were being reported only in Karachi in the province because water being supplied to the city was not adequately chlorinated.

Dr Shah said maintaining the required level of chlorine in water supplied to Karachi was part of the Karachi Water & Sewerage's (KWSB) responsibilities. He claimed that water at 80 per cent of the pumping stations of the KWSB was not properly chlorinated, which was posing danger to the lives of the people of the metropolis.

He said Naegleria fowleri killed human beings by entering into the brain from water through the nasal cavity and eating up the brain tissues. The risk factor had also increased because there was no public awareness regarding the fatal disease, he added.

The PTI MPA criticised the Sindh government for its failure to chlorinate water. The provincial government’ so-called awareness campaign had failed to create impact, he said. “Chlorination is the only method to kill the brain-eating amoeba and keep the life-taking disease at bay,” he said, asking the KWSB and the health department to perform their duties. Dr Shah said the Sindh chief minister and his cabinet should resign if their government could not save the lives of people.

Tuberculosis cases

A day earlier, another PTI MPA, Sidra Imran, had expressed her concerns about the rise in the case of tuberculosis (TB) in Sindh. She said the situation demanded immediate measures in Badin district where every second person was suffering from TB.

Citing reports of the Sindh health department, she said more than 120,000 cases of TB had been reported across the province but the provincial government did not address the issue. She said people of the province were facing the HIV outbreak because of the failure of the provincial government, which was now totally indifferent to the high number of TB cases as it did not take any measures to control the disease, especially in Badin district. The PTI MPA said 60 per cent of TB patients in Badin district had been infected with the disease due to the consumption of polluted water.