LARKANA: As many as 50 villagers are said to be infected with deadly disease known as Hepatitis C in village Soonharo Khan Gadhi which is located in the riverine area near Mohenjo Daro.
The affected persons include men, women and kids.
A media team visited the village on Sunday along with Karani Union Council Chairman Muhammad Juman Bughio. Villagers including Tufail Ahmed Gadhi, Mumtaz Ali, Sher Khan, Bashir Khan Gadhi and others told the team that underground water of their village had become arsenic since 2010 due to which most of the villagers had been affected by the dreaded disease.
They said that the disease was spreading fast among them without any respite by the concerned healthcare officials. They added that over ten people had so far expired due to this disease including men, women and children.
They also said that they were poverty-stricken poor tillers and unable to get the treatment at Larkana hence they demanded that a team of expert doctors may be deputed to their village along with required testing kits to screen their blood and find the truth. They also said that experts must also be sent to check the causes of the water pollution which has affected their lives badly.
Most of the affected men and women were weeping while narrating the tales of their woes. Chairman Bughio confirmed that since 2010 the underground water had become poisonous and since then this killer disease had surfaced which is why the residents had been infected.
He said that he informed Sindh Health Minister Sikander Mandhro and Larkana Deputy Commissioner Kashif Tipu several times about the miseries of the villagers, and requested them to send teams of doctors so that they could test the blood of the affected people and provide the proper treatment at their door steps. He added that all of the affectees were very poor farmers and could not afford cost of travelling daily to a major city for treatment.
He also said that despite his repeated requests, nothing had yet been done. He once again urged the concerned higher government authorities to take notice of the outburst of hepatitis in a remote area and provide requisite relief without loss of further time.