In the civil hospital of Dera Ghazi Khan, in the south of Punjab, the cases of gastroenteritis exploded since the beginning of the floods. Dr. Dost Ali Buzdar continues the consultations. “How are you? Feeling better?”he asks a patient. “No, I still have diarrhea”replies the man. “I’ll Take Your Pulse”explains the doctor.
“We are worried about the risks of malaria, cholera and other dangerous diseases.”
Dr. Dost Ali Buzdarat franceinfo
30% of Pakistan is under water, because since mid-June, the country has been experiencing devastating monsoon rains. 33 million people are affected by these exceptional bad weather, 800,000 head of cattle have been killed, 80,000 hectares of farmland ravaged and 1,136 people have died. In some hospitals, the number of patients has suddenly increased by 70% in recent weeks, with many patients coming from flood-affected areas.
Dr Nasrullah Soomro runs the civilian hospital in Sukkur, which is on the front line of the particularly deadly floods in Sindh province. In one of the beds, a patient has his arm bandaged: this baker was working when the heavy rains broke the building. “Did you pass out when the roof fell?”he asks the bedridden patient. “No, I didn’t pass out, I didn’t understand what was happening”explains the man: he arrived at the hospital with his colleagues, one of them died.
>> PICTURES. In Pakistan, monsoon rains kill more than 1,000 people and devastate entire regions
The medical team intervenes with the wounded, but Dr. Nasrullah is worried about the consequences linked to the torrential rains, such as the risk of an epidemic. “Because of the heavy rains that keep falling, many diseases are emerginghe describes. We have cases of malaria and we fear that an epidemic of cholera will break out.” Added to this is the promiscuity in which the survivors live, crammed into camps and shelters.
“Given the conditions, it is feared that the Covid-19 virus will spread among the survivors.”
Dr. Nasrullah Soomroat franceinfo
Medical teams are therefore monitoring the situation throughout the territory. “We are doing our best to deal with all of this, we are working in coordination with the local authorities to face up and intervene as best we can”, he adds. Stagnant water could indeed cause a deadly epidemic in the country.