UPPER DIR: Gastroenteritis has broken out in Upper Dir district, claiming the lives of six persons and landing thousands others, including children, in the hospitals. According to health authorities, gastro has hit several areas of the district. However, they denied the reports of cholera outbreak in any area.
They confirmed that four persons, including a child, had been killed by gastro.
The disease is not confined to any particular area but hit several villages and towns of the district. Earlier, the district was lashed by torrential monsoon rains, killing dozens of people and washing away bridges and other infrastructure.
Health authorities told Dawn that more than 3,000 people, including children and women, had been hospitalised. They said the gastro patients were being treated at the emergency wards and provided with free of cost medicines.
Mukhtarullah, a former nazim of Union Council Sawni, said his area had been gripped by gastro which had killed six persons including a child. However, Executive District Officer (EDO) Health Dr Hidayat-ur-Rehman said four persons had died of the disease.
The EDO said the victims included little Sana and three women from Sharmai and Petawo banda. He brushed aside reports of cholera outbreak. “We sent a team of doctors and paramedics to Pitao Banda and Sharmai (villages of union council Sawni) to check up patients and analyse the situation,” the EDO said.
He said the team examined around 1,500 people but it did not find symptoms of cholera. Most of the people were affected by gastro, he added. Several areas in Barawal have also been hit by the disease. District Coordination Officer (DCO) Ghulam Mohammad visited Barawal hospital and directed the staff to take care of the patients and provide them free of cost free medicines.
He said if more medicines were needed, the administration would provide them to the hospital to ensure treatment. The gravity of the situation also brought Federal Minister for Safron Najmuddin Khan to the DHQ hospital. He visited the patients and directed the health authorities to ensure proper treatment.
The DHQ is the main health facility in the district of 700,000 population. The minister on the occasion termed the issue of lack of doctors in the hospital as a “serious problem.”
“We have been facing this situation for quite a long time and it is because of that no doctor is willing to come to Dir for being a remote area.
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