In Karachi, 11 more bodies were discovered on Tuesday as the city’s temperature rose to 41.3 degree centigrade with 63 per cent relative humidity. According to The News, this has brought the total number of heat-related deaths since Sunday to 38, causing space capacity issues at the Edhi center and prompting them to start burying unclaimed bodies.
Speaking to the publication, an Edhi spokesman said 22 bodies were buried on Tuesday, and the other 22 will be buried by Wednesday morning. He revealed that between 21 June and 24 June, the centre had received a total number of 427 bodies, an alarmingly high number as compared to the usual 30 bodies a day that were brought by relatives for bathing, shrouding purposes.
The Edhi worker told The News that most of these deaths were due to extreme heat, load-shedding and illnesses. “As of today [Tuesday], the number of bodies received by evening was around 70, a figure that will continue to rise until we tally the total at midnight.”
Out of the 427 bodies, 22 have been recognised with the help of bio metric identification and buried.. 70 bodies were received on Tuesday, among with 22 are still unburied as they are waiting to be identified.
As the heatwave continues to rise in Karachi, hospitals are admitting a growing number of patients who suffered heat-stroke related illnesses. Speaking to Dawn, Dr Nausheen Rauf, who is the head of the emergency section at the Jinnah Public Medical Centre (JPMC), said since Monday, they had received over 1,592 patients. Patients had reported suffering from high fever, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea.
“Normally, 1,200 to 1,300 patients report at our emergency unit and the number of brought dead cases on an average ranges between 10 and 15 on a single day. Hence, there was an overall increase in the number of patients as well as brought dead cases, particularly, on June 24,” Dr Rauf said to the publication.
At the Dr Rauf Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, at least 65 patients were admitted and complained of suffering from heatstroke or heat-related illnesses.
In a move to tackle the heatwave, the Karachi mayor Murtaza Wahab has directed KWSC to establish heatwave camps across the city, which will include stalls that sell cold drinks and water to civilians.
