Officials asked to follow WHO guidelines to control cholera

KARACHI: Urging the authorities to ensure the provision of safe drinking water to the people in the wake of a cholera outbreak in Sindh, leading paediatricians, infectious disease and public health experts on Thursday advised them to follow international guidelines for the management of acute watery diarrhoea and cholera and establish separate treatment units at tertiary-care hospitals to prevent the spread of the disease.

Speaking at a consultative meeting regarding the management of acute watery diarrhoea and cholera, health experts advised the people to boil water at least for 10 minutes before drinking to protect themselves and their children from waterborne diseases. They demanded from the authorities to ensure chlorination of water before its supply to people.

The meeting was organised by the Sindh health department in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and it was attended by leading paediatricians, infectious diseases’ specialists, and other health experts from public and private health facilities and representatives from various health organisations. Officials from WHO, Unicef and other donor agencies were also present on the occasion.

Speaking at the meeting, Sindh Director General Health Dr Juman Bahoto said that at the moment, 12 diagnostic labs were “now doing the culture of stool samples for the diagnosis of cholera”. He added that they were trying to upgrade public labs at divisional levels in Sindh to have this facility in the coming days.