Contingency plan to counter effects of searing heat chalked out

MN Report

KARACHI- A high-level meeting held here at the Sindh Assembly’s committee room has chalked out an elaborate contingency plan aimed at countering the effects of severe heat wave likely to hit Karachi in May and June.

The participants of the meeting decided to take all public and private hospitals, ambulance services, city administration, revenue department, KMC, KWSB, K-Electric, scouts and girls guides associations, SESSI and the Met Office, on board to minimize the effects of possible severe heat wave.

The meeting was chaired by Sindh Health Minister Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar and those present on the occasion included Sindh Secretary Health Dr. Saeed Ahmed Mangnejo, deputy commissioners of all the six districts of Karachi, medical superintendents of government hospitals, district health officers and representatives of education and other departments.
Discussing the preventive measures, the meeting decided to conduct short courses for imparting training to volunteers, scouts and girl guides so that they could effectively handle the heatstroke cases.

It also resolved to launch a massive campaign for creating awareness about the implications of severe heat wave among general public through electronic and print media.

It also decided that all the rehabilitation centres, to be set up by the government in different parts of the city, must be provided with basic medicines in adequate quantity so that the victims of heatstroke could be treated at the nearest centres instead of referring them to the hospitals located in the far-flung areas.

Officials of the KWSB and ambulances services were also directed to ensure availability of water and ambulances at the rehabilitation centres.

The meeting decided to publish the list of the rehabilitation centres in all the leading newspapers.

On this occasion, the minister directed the concerned department to launch health alert system through mobile messages so that people could be timely informed about severe heat wave’s spells.

He also instructed DHOs and heads of public sector hospitals to take effective measures for enhancing capacity of their health care staff, besides ensuring community and volunteers’ active participation during the severe heat wave season.

He also underscored the need for setting up task force comprising representatives of Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), health department, city administration, scouts/girls guides associations, MET Office, Traffic Police and private ambulances services, etc.