
The news however
airing in media through metro-logical department that one more time the heatwave
will target Karachi though the heat temperature has come down little but not so
distinctive to believe that the dragon of heat waves has left the city.
Nevertheless it’s
an obvious signal for the people living in Karachi to take precautionary
measures beforehand to avoid of sunstroke
Electronic and
print media should play its due role and must do regular program on ad hoc
basis to apprise the people giving an understanding and showing illustrative
physical training that how to cope over the crisis and someone can keep away from
the ruthless impact of heatstroke.
The karachiites
experienced the heavy strokes last week - looking Sind Govt. to notify the concerned
govt. hospitals/ clinics & install
emergency cell across the board in Karachi to handle such disaster if falls
again
Ensure the presence of all requisites & facilities required to treat heatstroke & sunstroke patients - conduct essential medical training to attend such victims & make mandatory arrangements on war foot basis needed for suspected patients of heat waves.
For God forbid if it repeats we are not certain how more death the karachiites will witness, said a Govt. hospital doctor.
Ensure the presence of all requisites & facilities required to treat heatstroke & sunstroke patients - conduct essential medical training to attend such victims & make mandatory arrangements on war foot basis needed for suspected patients of heat waves.
For God forbid if it repeats we are not certain how more death the karachiites will witness, said a Govt. hospital doctor.
Due to sizzling heat waves the Karachi kept their inhabitants into furnace where the mercury overwhelmingly
scrolled between 45 to 47 degrees Celsius that devoured 1200 lives. The pitiless
weather baked the whole city and spared no one whoever came under its clutch.
The causes of
fatalities were the direct sunstroke following dehydration, headache, nausea, vomiting
& heart attack where patients could not survive and expired. There were no epidemic
eruption in the city but an unbearable & unbeatable heat waves that plagued the Karachiies.
It’s a heat injuries where
people get infected with heat stroke or sunstroke that kills and can cause
damage to brain and other internal organs - Heat stroke generally
occurs as a progression from milder heat-related illnesses such as heat cramps, heat syncope (fainting)
and heat exhaustion but it can
strike even if you don’t have previous signs of heat injury.
Heat stroke results from prolonged exposure to high temperatures - usually in combination with dehydration which leads to failure of the body's temperature control system.
The medical definition of heatstroke is a core body temperature greater than 105 degrees Fahrenheit with complications involving the central nervous system that occur after exposure to high temperatures - Other common symptoms includes nausea, seizures, confusion, disorientation, and sometimes loss of consciousness or coma. However the fatality increased due to the following reasons
Heat stroke results from prolonged exposure to high temperatures - usually in combination with dehydration which leads to failure of the body's temperature control system.
The medical definition of heatstroke is a core body temperature greater than 105 degrees Fahrenheit with complications involving the central nervous system that occur after exposure to high temperatures - Other common symptoms includes nausea, seizures, confusion, disorientation, and sometimes loss of consciousness or coma. However the fatality increased due to the following reasons
a)
Lack
of basic facility at govt. hospitals in Karachi in its four districts – No
water - No ceiling fan – Out of order lavatories – A darkened room or medical
wards- Filthy and stinky & unhygienic hospitals environment with disgustingly dirty floor.
b)
Insufficient
number of medical staff and paramedical forces to curb & manage the influx
of heatstroke patients in the hospitals
c)
Non
availability of ambulance to take the suspected patients of heatstroke to the
nearest hospitals
d)
Not
only govt. hospitals had no ambulance but the private ambulance service
providers also seen excusing when the suspected patients either arrived late
in hospital or expired on the way to the hospital
e)
No
bedding facility - patients lied-down at the floor waiting for crusader to
treat them
f)
Not
constituting any emergency cell/ units or special arrangement to respond the tragedy
i.e. the increased number of heatstroke patients brought to the hospitals
g)
No
mass disaster recovery & business continuity plan with strategic policies in place to control &
getting rid of the crisis in the city.
h)
Lack
of medicines & dysfunctional of oxygen cylinders & inactive medical equipment
i)
Inadequate
Air-conditioning apparatus that were the important intake for sunstroke
patients
j)
Dysfunctional
air-condition plants with no maintenance schedule rather out of order since
long
k)
Prolong
power breakdown with no back-up support to run or revive the hospital business resulting
patients left remained unattended and died
l)
Failure
in provision of desired cooling temperature being first and foremost important
segment for such victims & suspected patients of heatstroke whose survival
depends only on appropriate cooling temperature to relief the patients from the heat waves but hospitals had no cooling facility at all
m) Untrained medical doctors and nurses to understand
and handle such victims, its symptoms and treatment - delay in giving
medical help caused fatal
n) Lacking in initiating first aid to cool it to
101 to 102 degrees Fahrenheit the staff looked busy in searching of thermometers
o) Out of order ceiling fan - directing
to the patient and wetting skin with water from a sponge - a basic criteria to
attend heatstroke patient and
p) Applying ice packs to the patient's
armpits, groin, neck, and back because these areas becomes rich with blood
vessels close to the skin - cooling them might reduce body temperature
q) But there were no ice packs in the
hospitals or cold water to shower the patients - because almost toilets had no
water in its tap but inundated with sewerage water due to chocked sewerage
lines
A general phenomena
to immerse the patient in a shower or tub of cold water, or an ice bath but
hospital had no such facility to attend heatstroke patients resulting we lost
outnumbered human lives in Karachi
Truly, people
went through untold mental agonies – a tale of horror for Karachiites who lost
their kith and kin owing to numerous reasons - those who lost their relative says
a)
We
could not find grave to bury our family or place to burial the corpse
b)
When
approached to graveyard administrator or cemetery - the grave digger we could
not find
c)
They
told us bring your laborer and a pickax to dig up the grave – go around and
check the place - so do your own arrangement as we are not free due to mass
killing by heat waves in the town, said the grave digger, mentioned aggrieved father
who lost his daughter in heatstroke.- In one day alone 41 dead bodies had been buried in Shaki Hasan grave yard he further said.
d)
There
were no place in cemetery - around the city we roamed & checked other burial
site too but did not find place - however we were given a new date by the grave-digger
to come after two days as there were no ready-made grave available
e)
When
we approached the morgue Edhi center in Shorab-goath to store the dead body we
were told not having space inside the cold storage - we came back with the
corpse and arranged ice slab to intact the body, said a sobbing son who lost
his father while he was coming back from the job, died due to heatstroke.
f)
The
hospital administration returned the body of my uncle as there were no space in
hospital mortuary and I took the body to another morgue - however I searched
for space to bury my uncle but could not find burial space in the town or the
precinct where we live – lastly we got the place out of Karachi in Hub River Road
graveyard where we buried our uncle, said a distressed nephew who lives in Gulshan e Iqbal ..
g)
When
we went inside the morgue we saw how the bodies had been stacked on top of one
another – really there were no space in the mortuary because of massive killing
due to heat waves in Karachi – all the mortuary in the city had no space to accommodate
dead bodies
h)
Most
of the corpses had been kept outside the mortuary had stinky & smelly environment if you pass close to the mortuary. Yesterday I came to know that
Edhi had buried multiple bodies in one grave because of space, time & unclaimed factor. Edhi resources also
confirmed that due to not having space in mortuary temporarily they buried 30
bodies hoping to get claimant to handover the bodies to its owner.
i)
When
we got a place in cemetery but we could not find any funeral van or bus to take
bodies to graveyard then we hired a public bus to carry the mourner to perform
funeral.and for carrying the dead body one of my friend arranged high roof where we kept the body in our lap and moved for cemetery as ambulance was not available.
Among other issues electric power failure were the main reason that increased the death toll as immediate cooling temperature and cold water accessibility could not attain that’s made the situation worse to worst in Karachi.
Among other issues electric power failure were the main reason that increased the death toll as immediate cooling temperature and cold water accessibility could not attain that’s made the situation worse to worst in Karachi.
However govt. needs to enforce Disaster
Recovery (DR) plan in practicality so that ability of the organization or concerned
department may respond to a disaster or an interruption in services by
implementing a disaster recovery plan to stabilize and restore the
organization's critical functions.