KARACHI: Pakistan Medical Association Centre Secretary General Dr SM Qaisar Sajjad has urged the civic authorities to ensure proper chlorination of water supplied throughout Karachi city so as to prevent citizens from Naegleria fowleri and other water-borne diseases.
Talking to PPI, Dr Qaisar Sajjad said the water being supplied to the city was not properly chlorinated, as there was more threat of fatal diseases like Naegleria fowleri.
Naegleria, known as the brain-eating amoeba, is commonly found in warm freshwater like ponds, tanks, lakes and swimming pools, he said.
He explained that Naegleria fowleri infects people when water containing the amoeba enters the body through the nose. He said Naegleria fowleri enters from the human nose to brain where it destroys the brain tissue.
He said, “As Muslims, we have to clean our noses during ablution (Ghusl and Wuzu) and it demands that water for Wuzu should be properly boiled or chlorinated.”
He said the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) should ensure proper chlorination of potable water at the pumping stations, while the citizens could use water purification tablets available at medical stores.
He advised the citizens to use boiled water to minimise the risk of this disease. He said water purification tablets and powders are the best alternatives to be used in water tanks of homes, offices, mosques, hospitals at individual and community levels.
Dr Sajjad said the supply of clean water to citizens is the responsibility of government, but unfortunately, no ruler of Pakistan had even bothered to provide clean potable drinking water to people despite the passage of 70 years.
He informed that an estimated three million Pakistanis get sick with water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, cholera, hepatitis, and typhoid every year, out of them 1.2 million are children. He said around 250,000 children, under the age of five years, die of water-borne diseases in this country each year.
He demanded that clean and chlorinated water should be supplied to the citizens to save them from many diseases, including Naegleria fowleri.
