With the weather turning hot and humid, like other parts of the province reports of gastroenteritis particularly among children have started to pour in at various city hospitals. Cases pertaining to gastro/diarrhoea reported to various government hospitals across the province increased considerably during May. Reports have also been received pertaining to cholera epidemic in a district as well. However, according to an official of the Sindh health department, the situation was under control and executive district officers (health) have already been briefed about the relative actions and preventive measures. Doctors felt that the influx of children and elders at hospitals, with a history of intestinal disorders and vomiting was a normal thing particularly in the current weather conditions. Besides, they added, poor eating habits, consumption of unhygienic food, supply of substandard drinking water and subsoil water were also some of the factors that contributed towards an increase in the cases of gastroenteritis. "People must avoid consuming foodstuff and water, which are unfit,' doctors warned. According to a health department official, most patients are released after getting necessary medical attention, while those with severe diarrhoea are retained for an intensive support. During the last one week, it was learnt, the government hospitals in Karachi on an average attended to 300 gastro cases daily in their out-patient departments. Of them about 10 per cent were admitted to the hospital. In the city, a scant supply of water and gaps in the pumping of water in the lines resulted in drying-up of the lines, which have mostly become decayed and largely proved to be a major a source of water contamination. In the absence of water from pumping stations, seepage and sewage water easily found their way into the inferior supply lines and became mixed up with drinking water, said an expert. According to scientists, microbial load in drinking water supplied to Karachi had been considerably high, which also consisted of bacteria found in sewage and as such affected the intestinal tract, eyes and skin. Experts have frequently been stressing the need for setting up of a state-of-the-art drinking water quality assurance laboratory to ensure a pathogen-free water supply to citizens. On the other hand, children in some parts of the city also play in puddles or stagnant water to beat the heat and invite waterborne diseases as well. It was suggested that among the immediate solutions during the crisis, people should boil water for at least five minutes and then use it after cooling, filtering or pouring out the decant precipitates. Besides, experts say, in order to purify water eight drops of chlorine containing bleach should be added to four litres of water and be kept under some shade for four hours. Subsequently, to remove the excess chlorine from water, it should be kept under the sunlight for a day. As per the guidelines as laid down by the World Health Organisation (WHO), bacteriological quality of drinking water is zero unit of fecal coliforms in per 100ml, while 10 units of coliform organism in per 100ml. In all, from May 5 to May 21, about 16,500 patients of gastroenteritis and diarrhoea were attended to in the OPDs of various government hospitals of Sindh, out of which about 4,400 (26.66 per cent) had to be hospitalised due to the severity of the disease. On May 21, about 1,200 cases of diarrhoea were reported to various government hospitals of the province, out of which 276 were admitted, while the rest were sent home after checkups and the required medical support. Mirpurkhas, where at least eight cases of cholera, an acute diarrhoeal illness, have been confirmed recently, received 51 diarrhoea cases, out of which 22 were retained for treatment at hospitals. According to a report prepared by the office of the director-general health services, Sindh, as many as 120 patients reported to hospitals in Badin district, out of which 30 were hospitalised, followed by 113 in Hyderabad, 79 patients in Matiari, 61 cases in Sanghar, 58 in Nawabshah and 54 case in Dadu, etc. When contacted a deputy secretary of the Sindh health department, Dr Shakeel A. Mullick, told Dawn that the executive district officers (health) in the province had already been apprised about the situation and had been asked to take necessary measures to avert any grave situation. The EDOs have been requested to send their reports to the Disease Early Warning System (DEWS) in Sindh to ensure immediate case reporting and recording at every health facility level. They have also been directed to arrange for a regular monitoring of the quality of drinking water, both chemical and bacteriological.