MIRPURKHAS, Sept 25: Several wards of the Civil Hospital in Mirpurkhas have been closed and 80 per cent doctors and other staff members have stopped coming to work with the hospital premises being under four feet water for weeks.

Indoor patients had to leave the hospital without treatment.

Hundreds of patients coming to the hospital from Sanghar, Umerkot, Tharparkar and Tando Allahyar have no place to turn to.

The municipal and other authorities have failed to drain out water and the wards of gynaecology, paediatrics, surgery, ENT, cardiac and Kidney have been closed.

People suffering from gastroenteritis, malaria, skin disease and dehydration are unable to get any treatment.

Hospital waste and heaps of filth are lying at different places posing serious health hazards and providing breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies.

Sondha, Rewa, Nandlal and other patients told this reporter that they had been displaced from their homes and now they suffered from different diseases and had to go to private clinics.

Chairman of the Citizen Action Committee Rais Ahmed Khan and Kamran Kaimkhani regretted that the hospital which provided treatment to thousands of people was lying closed because of inefficiency of the district administration, departments concerned, TMA Mirpurkhas and the hospital administration.

They urged the authorities to take immediate steps to drain out water from the hospital premises.

A FLOODED CITY: Rainwater mixed with sewage and saline water of Dhoro Puran stagnating in the town for a couple of weeks has created a serious problem for the people.

Sweepers of the taluka municipal administration were seen breaking some sewage drains to drain out water.

Some heavy pumping machines are being used at the railway station roundabout and other places.

About two to three feet of water has entered residential areas and inundated the DCO office, food godowns and offices of the excise and taxation department, district food controller and EDO health.

Floodwater also hit the offices of the district council, director information, EDO agriculture, anti-corruption establishment and police complex, civil hospital, DIG house, circuit house, police lines, town police station, Sindh horticulture research institute, district and sessions court, Shah Abdul Latif science college and the government high school.

ADJOINING AREAS: Jhuddo taluka has been cut off from Mirpurkhas with the main road under six feet of water.

Two to three feet of water is flowing through the town and villages on its outskirts.

The roads linking Jhuddo town with nearby villages have also been inundated.

Distribution of relief goods among displaced people, who are living in the open, was stopped by the administration two weeks ago.

On Saturday, some army trucks carrying foodstuff reached the taluka of Jhuddo. Half of the goods were distributed while the rest was snatched by the enraged people. Digri taluka is also under four feet of water.

About four to five feet of water is stagnating in the rural areas of the talukas of Mirpurkhas, Hussain Bux Mari and Sindhri.

Although some relief goods are being distributed in Mir Ji Landhi, 10 Mile Mori and adjoining villages in the taluka of Kot Ghulam Mohammad, a large number of affected people are not getting any help.

TANDO JAN MOHAMMAD: President of the Sindh Chamber for Agriculture, Mirpurkhas chapter, Mir Zafarullah Talpur, told Dawn that the town of Tando Jan Mohammad had been submerged because of a man-made breach in a canal embankment near Digri.

He said growers were diverting water towards Khatyan minor, increasing the level of water in Tando Jan Mohammad town. He said that 80 per cent of the people of the town had moved to other places.

He alleged that relief goods were being distributed mostly on political basis while a large number of villagers were living without any help.

He said four to five feet of water was standing on the outskirts of the town and there was no way to drain it out.