TAXILA, May 20: The heat wave which has hit the city, coupled with the prolonged electricity loadshedding, has resulted in an increase in diseases such as diarrhoea, vomiting and sunstroke at the local hospitals and clinics.

Several people have referred to the hospitals and private clinics reporting a sharp increase in these diseases, which have resulted in an epidemic-like situation for the past two weeks.

During a survey, it was observed that hospitals and physicians in Taxila and adjoining areas were witnessing increased number of patients, especially children. Doctors have warned parents to ensure their children are not exposed to the sun, and were being provided with plenty of clean drinking water.

Medical Superintendent Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Taxila (THQ) Dr Mohammad Shahid said almost half the patients coming to the OPD complained of heat-related infections. He said children suffering from diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases were mainly coming from the rural areas, while children suffering from loose motions and vomiting were coming from every part of the city.

Dr Masood Ahmed Khan, a pediatrician at a local private hospital, said the number of children arriving at the local children’s hospital had risen by 50 percent due to the prevailing heat wave, adding that the majority of cases were of heat-related waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, hepatitis A and E, typhoid and gastro.

“Stomach, intestinal and liver diseases always rise in the summer season. Heat stroke is another disease affecting children in the rural areas at large,” he said.

Meanwhile, an epidemic of waterborne diseases such as gastroenteritis, dysentery and diarrhea may hit Taxila and adjoining areas as the district health authorities have failed to launch chlorination of water wells.

With the onset of hot weather, health experts believe diseases such as hepatitis, gastroenteritis, cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea may spread like an epidemic.

Chlorination of water wells is the need of the hour, but despite increased reports regarding waterborne diseases, no chlorination has been conducted so far in the area.