Over 1000 dead due to heat wave in Pakistan

People rush a police officer to a hospital as he suffers from a heatstroke at a local hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, June 24, 2015. Wind from the sea and pre-monsoon rains cooled southern Pakistan on Wednesday, likely settling the scorching heat wave that killed over 1000 people, authorities said. (AP Photo)

As over 40, 000 people suffered from heatstroke all over Sindh, at least 1000 of them have died. While the scorching heat wave gripping Karachi since Saturday showed signs of settling, the death toll across Sindh rose to 1,011, with at least 229 fatalities reported on Wednesday by government and private hospitals.

As many as 7,500 of them were treated in Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in Karachi, where 311 people died.

“More than 1,000 of the 40,000 heatstroke victims have died since Saturday evening, of which 950 deaths were reported in Karachi alone,” said a senior official.

Out of the 950 deaths in Karachi, 729 were recorded in government-run health facilities and 221 in private hospitals.

The officials said the number of patients arriving in hospitals had ‘significantly’ dropped with the weather getting better, yet there were thousands of patients being treated in different health facilities.

The gravity of the situation could be determined from the fact that only the hospitals run by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation treated over 17, 000 patients till Wednesday evening, out of which 207 have died since Saturday.

The officials said 15 people died in Hyderabad, two in Naushahro Feroze and five in Badin, bringing the five-day count to 61 recorded in other districts of Sindh.

A large number of ambulances were seen arriving, with the relatives of victims crying outside hospitals all over the city.

People rush a woman to a hospital as she suffered from a heatstroke in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, June 24, 2015. (AP Photo)

Meanwhile, the power cuts have angered local residents at the authorities because they are unable to use the air-conditioners and fans.

Matters have been made worse by the widespread abstention from water during daylight hours during the fasting month of Ramadan.

On Tuesday, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it had received orders from Mr. Sharif to take immediate action to tackle the crisis.

People, youth in particular, were seen donating medicines, juices and bottled water to patients as well as hospitals.

After almost a week, the hot and humid weather got milder. The maximum temperature dropped to 37 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. The minimum temperature was 30.5 degrees Celsius, with 63 percent humidity.

The Met Office said the maximum temperature is expected to remain between 38 and 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

Pakistani people cool themselves off in water during the heat wave in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, June 22, 2015.
(Xinhua)

A Pakistani boy cools himself off in water during the heat wave in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, June 22, 2015. (Xinhua)

People cool themselves with a broken water pipeline in Islamabad, Pakistan as temperatures increased during Ramadan, Tuesday, June 23, 2015. More than 950 people have died from heatstroke in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi since Saturday, officials said. (AP Photo)