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The number of cholera patients in Zhob district of Balochistan province of Pakistan rose to 2,000 despite all the measures taken by the government to curb the outbreak.
The waterborne disease continues to spread in the province of Balochistan, The Express Tribune reported. "Over 200 serious patients are still admitted to District Headquarters Hospital", Zhob Syed Muzaffar Shah, the District Health Officer (DHO) said. Several people have been infected with Cholera in Ganj Muhala, Kharotabad and Sheikhan Muhala. The outbreak has claimed a total of three lives in the district which includes two children and one women, Shah added. An emergency was declared in the DHQ hospital in order to treat the patients timely, local media reported. "We have dispatched medicines to Zhob and other affected areas to deal with the situation", Balochistan's Health Secretary Saleh Muhammad Nasar said. The Wadh Tehsil city of Khuzdar district in the province also registered three more deaths due to the Cholera outbreak. Wadh hospital's medical superintendent Dr Asad Jan Mengal said that more than 100 people were admitted in the hospital following the cholera outbreak adding that a majority of the patients are women and children. The health secretary said that the recent flash floods in the country have contributed to the cholera and diarrhea outbreak as clean drinking water was not available. "In Zhob, sewerage water has mixed with leaking water supply pipes after heavy rainfall," Nasar said. He added that a majority of the patients were suffering from diarrhoea not cholera, it added. "Today I am leaving for Zhob to assess the situation," the health secretary said. Several deaths were reported in Barkhan, Dera Bugti and Kohlu districts of Balochistan due to the cholera outbreak. Health officials in Zhob, Kohlu and Wadh district said that there was a lack of medicines and they requested the health department along with to World Health Organisation (WHO) to send medicines and doctors. "We want medicines as an influx of patients is expected", a doctor of Zhob hospital said. Around 250 people were admitted in the District Headquarters Hospital after complaining about a gastric disease in Kohlu district. "Most of the patients have been discharged after treatment", Kohlu Hospital's Medical Superintended Dr Asghar Marri said adding that they will be able to handle the situation better after the provincial government provides them medicines. (ANI)
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