KARACHI, Pakistan: The death toll due to heatstroke in the last five days across the Sindh province has risen to 900 and according to the Met Office, the severe heatwave in Karachi will end on Wednesday evening.
The maximum deaths have so far been reported from Karachi where mercury has broken the record of the past decade.
“We are continuously receiving people in a critical condition or dead; there has been no let-up,” the Joint Executive Director of Karachi’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Seemin Jamali said.
The Director Met Office Dr Muhammad Hanif said that the extreme hot weather conditions across the country including in Sindh will subside today. He also said that normal winds will blow in Karachi from Thursday.
Meanwhile, a public holiday is being observed in Sindh today due to current heatwave and all educational institutions and government offices remain closed.
“We are closing offices, schools and colleges not just in Karachi but throughout Sindh,” the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said in the Sindh assembly on Tuesday in an apparent measure to save people from the intense heat.
The Sindh government has declared emergency in all the hospitals of the province and directed the administration to ensure prompt availability of doctors, para-medical staff and necessary medicines to provide immediate treatment to the heatstroke patients.
The Pakistan Army and Pakistan Rangers Sindh have also established Heatstroke Relief Centers at various places in the city to provide immediate help to the patients.
