ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: In a rare admission, country’s premier medical research institution, the National Institute of Health, on Thursday confirmed that 46 cholera cases had occurred in the twin cities during the past few months.

NIH had not been officially confirming the incidence of cholera cases after a disclosure in 1993-4 about an outbreak prompted many countries to ban import of food items from Pakistan resulting in huge economic losses.

Although NIH was quick to clarify that there was no epidemic of cholera in any part of the country and the reported cases were just sporadic instances, but it said the provincial health departments had been alerted and asked to regularly monitor the drinking water quality and chlorinate the water sources.

Most of the confirmed cases - 43 - were from Rawalpindi which on investigation by the district health department were found to be due to mixing of drinking water with sewage in the city’s dilapidated water supply network.

Incidentally, these cases were reported by just one tertiary care hospital of the city - Rawalpindi General Hospital - while Holy Family Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital and a vast network of primary and secondary healthcare institutions did not report even a single case raising serious concerns about their disease monitoring system.

Furthermore, the figures confirmed from Rawalpindi were higher than any of the other major cities in the country.

Executive Director NIH Major-Gen Masood Anwar said luckily there was no clustering and no more than two cases were reported from the same neighbourhood. However, he said, the figure showed that the disease was endemic.

District Officer (health) Dr Rafiq Ahmed said rapid response of the district health department had prevented the clustering of cases and spread of the disease.

A senior public health official warned that clustering can take place in future leading to an outbreak of the disease if the preventive procedures and hygiene were not improved.

An advisory issued by NIH said the community should clean and check any leakage of underground, overhead water tanks and in sewerage system and get these immediately repaired.

The drinking water should always be boiled; hands should be washed before meal and after going to the toilet, while fruits and vegetables should be properly washed, it said, adding the quality of drinking water (both chemical and bacteriological) should be got regularly tested from a reliable laboratory.