Orders provision of medicine, clean water to affected people
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken notice of the cholera outbreak in Dera Bugti district’s Pir Koh tehsil and directed the federal and provincial governments to take steps on an emergency basis to stop the spread of the disease.
According to detail, the prime minister has issued directives for providing food items, clean drinking water and other assistance to those affected while also ensuring provision of medicines. The developments come a day after the residents of Pir Koh took out a rally and staged a sit-in over a lack of clean drinking water and the alarming rise in the number of cholera cases.
People took to the roads in droves, carrying banners and placards inscribed with their demands, chanting slogans against the government and the local administration, before finally staging a sit-in and blocking the road leading towards the gas plant.
Local tribal elders speaking on the occasion said there was an outbreak of cholera due to the absence of clean drinking water in Pir Koh. “We have no other option but to drink contaminated water from the ponds along with the animals,” they said.
People had been protesting for the last two days, but no steps had been taken so far to provide clean drinking water, they lamented, adding that around a dozen, including children, people had lost their lives to cholera so far in Pir Koh tehsil. However, health officials have confirmed six deaths so far. “Six people, including three young children, died of cholera in Pir Koh,” said Balochistan Health Secretary Mohammad Saleh Nasar.
