• Doctors seek proper plan for determining ‘cause of death’
• ‘Feels-like’ temperature peaks at over 50 degrees Celsius
• Health dept ‘confirms’ only two heat-related deaths

KARACHI: More than 30 bodies were found from different parts of Karachi over the past two days, when the mercury crossed 40.5 degrees Celsius, with extremely high levels of humidity, taking the “feels-like temperature” beyond 50 degrees in the metropolis.

The sweltering weather has raised fears that the majority of the deaths might have been caused by extreme heat, charity bodies and health experts said.

Interestingly, the health department didn’t sound too worried about the situation and said that only “two people” died due to heatstroke on Wednesday, while reporting no deaths related to heat, on Thursday.

However, the department said that over two days, a total of 118 people were brought to different hospitals of the city who had suffered heatstroke and all of them were discharged after proper medical treatment.

The two major charities — Edhi Foundation and Chhipa Welfare Association — said on Thursday that during the past two days, at least “32 bodies presumably died of persisting extreme weather conditions” in the metropolis were found.

They added that most of the deceased appeared to be drug addicts whose bodies were recovered from roadside/footpaths, playgrounds and garbage dumps.

An Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that they received four bodies on Wednesday and six on Thursday from various localities.

Chhipa spokesperson Shahid Husain said their ambulances received 13 bodies on Wednesday and nine more on Thursday. He said all of them seemed to be drug addicts whose cause of death was “not known”.

Although the health department data didn’t corroborate with the numbers shared by the charities, the medical experts have little doubt on the claims of Edhi and Chhipa.

They also questioned the mechanism of healthcare operation in the city where the government, despite repeated demands, had failed to put a system in place to determine the cause of death of any person when such a huge number of bodies were found in just two days.

“It’s so unfortunate that there’s no system in place at the government to determine the cause of death when you are seeing that something unusual is happening,” said Dr Qaiser Sajjad, former secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA).

“As a common practice, you will only find written ‘cardio respiratory failure’ only to meet the formality of cause of death. You would never find the exact and precise information which is very crucial as to whether a person died of diabetes, hypertension, cardiac arrest, dehydration or heath stroke. We have demanded so many times but the government has not created any system which gives that particular and crucial info which leads to key policy decision.”

He said with such “harsh weather”, it was predominantly believed that such a huge number of bodies found in the city was due to extreme hot and humid conditions.

Secondly, he added, those who died mostly were homeless people who’re more vulnerable to heatstroke and dehydration under such temperature due to little access to shades, better atmosphere and clean drinking water.

“In situation like this when natural calamity hits or any other health challenge arises, the significance of data determining the cause of death increases manifold,” said Dr Sajjad, who’s also a renowned E&T surgeon.

“If you don’t establish such a system then obviously speculations and confusions will fill in the space. So the data plays crucial role in building an effective healthcare system and meet such challenges which we are facing today. We have seen in during Covid-19 days that how the data helped devising policies which helped us saving lives.”

The Ashura procession on M. A. Jinnah Road on Wednesday was another indicator of the extreme heat conditions.

The spokesman for Majlis Wahdat e Muslimeen (MWM) confirmed that dozens of people, including men and women, suffered heatstroke and dehydration, who were timely taken care of.

“Like every year all possible medical care arrangements were made for the Ashura procession,” he said.

“However, extra care and arrangements were put in place this year due to extreme weather conditions. Our medical teams and volunteers handled dozens of people who suffered heatstroke and dehydration. All of them were given timely care so Alhamdolillah situation remained under control. But yes, it was a challenge this year due to extreme hot and humid weather.”

Weather

The extreme hot and humid weather, in fact, tested patience of Karachiites across the city.

Though the city remained overcast during most of the hours on Wednesday and Thursday, the humid conditions with no breeze made the weather conditions unbearable for many in several city areas. The data shared by the Met office testifies the Karachiites’ misery.

“On Wednesday, the maximum temperature was recorded 40.5 degrees Celsius with 66 per cent humidity [count of moisture in the air],” said Dr Sardar Sarfaraz, the Chief Meteorologist of Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). “With such high temperature and humid conditions when the sea breezes are blocked due to low pressure area at times the feels-like temperature touched nearly 53 or 54 degrees Celsius. Almost the same conditions prevailed on Thursday when temperature dropped to 38.2 degrees Celsius with 68 percent humidity. The feels-like at the peak time touched 50 degrees Celsius.”

Another significant number was recorded night between Wednesday and Thursday when the minimum temperature was recorded at 32 degrees Celsius with 80 per cent humidity. The Met office says that 32 degrees Celsius has been recorded thrice this month and is a new highest night minimum temperature for July. The situation, however, started turning after second half of Thursday.

“The city witnessed little relief when the sea breaze started setting in with speed of 12 nautical miles per hour,” said Mr Sarfaraz of the Met office.

“The situation would improve gradually. The current weather condition with little relief would stay for a day or two. After July 22 we see that the impact of low pressure area which has blocked the sea breezes would fizzle out. We can also witness some rains amid this new emerging weather conditions.”

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2024