65,000 Suffer Heatstroke In Pakistan Heat Wave, Death Toll Climbs

The Pakistan heat wave that has been plaguing the country is claiming more victims by the day. The death toll over the past week has gone up to 1,233, despite cooler temperatures.

At it’s peak last week, the heat had risen higher than 113 degrees fahrenheit, and it’s showing little signs of getting better anytime soon.

Al Jazeera [1] reports:

“Nazar Mohammad Bozdar, operations director at the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said on Saturday that 65,000 heatstroke patients were treated at the city’s hospitals since June 20.

Bozdar told the AP news agency that 1,923 patients with heat-related ailments are still being treated.

The victims of the heatwave have died of heat stroke, dehydration or other heat-related illnesses – with the elderly and poor the worst-affected groups.

At the height of the crisis last week, Dr Seemin Jamali, a senior official at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi’s largest government hospital, told Al Jazeera that the centre’s mortuary was “overflowing”.

‘They are piling bodies one on top of the other,’ Jamali said at the time.

The heatwave struck Karachi at a time when the city’s Muslim majority was observing the dawn-to-dusk fasting month of Ramadan, further worsening the situation.”

Source:

[1] http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/pakistan-heatwave-death-toll-climbs-1200-150627153012878.html