As the dry winter is increasing, the problems of the citizens of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are also increasing like the rest of the country. The provincial capital Peshawar has been gripped by a severe cold wave but the government is facing failure to provide gas and electricity to save the citizens from it.
Due to which children and adults have been affected by pneumonia and other deadly diseases. On the other hand life-saving medicines have also disappeared in government hospitals the supply of which is the responsibility of the government but the poor patients who approach these hospitals have to buy syringes from the market, which needs immediate attention.
Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Syed Arshad Hussain Shah has already issued the directives. In this regard, according to the news published in the local newspapers heavy fog and cold wave is continue in Peshawar city and its surrounding areas. As result of that Cold, cough, fever and pneumonia diseases continue to increase.
The plain areas of the entire province including Peshawar are under the grip of severe cold and fog. Due to the severe cold and fog normal life has been paralyzed even on Thursday while the traffic system has been severely affected. Due to reduced visibility the arrival of employees in government offices and schools is delayed. Owing to heavy fog the vehicles of employees coming from Charsada, Mardan, Swabi and other districts are arriving late.
The traffic system on GT Road Charsadda Road has also been severely affected and BRT service is also affected. The schedule of trains is also delayed while domestic and foreign flights at Bacha Khan International Airport are also delayed due to which passengers are facing difficulties.
In hospitals, the caregivers of patients are facing severe problems. On the other hand, the National Health Organization has issued an advisory to prevent whooping cough and dozens of children have lost their lives due to whooping cough and pneumonia in the province.
According to the advisory issued by the National Institute of Health, the spread of diphtheria increases in winter. The aim of the advisory is to inform the health institutions about economic measures. It should be remembered that diphtheria is a contagious disease that is spread from one person to another.
Its germ is spread by touching, coughing, and sneezing of the patient. There is no possibility of this disease spreading on a large scale in Pakistan. It is important that parents vaccinate their children according to the schedule. It should be noted that dozens of children have lost their lives in the province last year due to whooping cough.
In order to stop the increase in various diseases due to cold it is necessary to declare an emergency at the official level. The main reason for this is that there is no arrangement to keep government schools warm due to which little boys and girls across the province have become victims of various cough and throat diseases.
Especially due to pneumonia hundreds of newborns and young children have also been admitted to hospitals whose parents do not have the expenses for their treatment. Therefore, it is necessary that the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa once again should starts the series of hospital visits and reprimands the negligent staff and also issues orders for the supply of certain life-saving drugs in the hospitals. If there is no attention paid to the local hospitals especially in the hilly and far-flung plains on this occasion, when there is a possibility of a severe cold wave, then pneumonia may become an epidemic in these areas.
Therefore the higher officials of the health department need to take notice of these situations. It is hoped that the problem of shortage of related medicines in government hospitals will be overcome in the next few days.
