SKARDU, Aug 3: Diarrhoea has claimed four lives, including a child, and affected over 250 people in a week in Shigar valley of Baltistan. The casualties occurred in Tishar village, according to local people.

They told Dawn here on Saturday that four of the affected patients had been shifted to district headquarters hospital Skardu in serious condition.

Esa Khan, Ghulam Abbas, Farman Ali and others said they had informed the district health department and PPHI about the outbreak of the epidemic, but they did nothing except sending a few cartons of medicines to the village.

The villagers said the staff of local basic health unit was trying its best to treat the patients with limited sources.

They feared that if the authorities didn’t pay immediate attention towards the disease, lives of more patients would be in danger. They demanded of the authorities to send medical teams to the area.—Correspondent