PMA criticizes civic authorities for inadequate arrangements during rains

KARACHI: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) expressed distress concerning the drastic aftermath following two days of rainfall in Sindh, particularly in Karachi and Hyderabad.

Life in these two cities froze for the two days of rainfall. The most shameful aspect is that 21 people have died in different rain-related incidents. Fifteen of the victims died of electrocution in different parts of Karachi. This is not news for Karachi as whenever it rains heavily, people suffer and die in the same way as they did in the past. However, nobody seems to care, take responsibility for it, or plan to avoid the miseries and deaths of innocent people in the future.

These deaths put a big question mark on the performance of our institutions, which are responsible for protecting the lives of people.

A large portion of the city was without power for 30 to 40 hours. This power failure suspended water supply to a large number of areas of Karachi and hence added to the difficulties of the people.

People could not reach their offices, doctors and paramedics were unable to reach hospitals, patients suffered from this ugly situation and could not reach the hospitals in time for their treatment, even ambulances were stuck on the roads because of severe traffic jams. Life seemed to come to a halt due to rain and sewerage water on roads.

We need to overhaul Karachi’s drainage system to prevent the spread of different bacteria, viruses, and other fatal organisms to decrease the burden of diseases in this megacity.

It is apathetic that nobody owns the two big cities of Sindh. Health and environmental systems in these cities are deteriorating day by day. Karachi is called the economic hub of the country, but authorities seem to be very non-serious in resolving the issues of the city.

The PMA has always raised its voice to overcome the problems of the public. Now, however, the PMA reiterates its demands that all the stakeholders, especially all the political parties to come forward, join hands together for the betterment of the people without indulging into a blame game.