KARACHI: Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) report has been released which states that two-thirds of Pakistanis do not have access to clean drinking water.
The recently released report sheds light on the health challenges the country faced in the year 2020 and highlights flaws in the government strategy.
The discharge of untreated industrial waste, poor sewerage system, agriculture run-off, and unplanned urbanization has downgraded water quality in Pakistan, depriving almost two-thirds of over 200 million Pakistanis of potable water, according to the report.
“Unfortunately, despite our regular warnings regarding coronavirus nobody acted upon our advice. Even the public has never followed the preventive measures seriously and the government also seems to be failing in implementing SOPs,” the report added.
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“Now the second wave is proving to be more lethal and deadlier as the virus has mutated itself and has become more transmissible and more infectious. It has been observed that people are not getting fully recovered even after being declared negative,” the report further added.
One of the most pressing and fundamental health challenges the country faces, the report states, is the non-availability of clean, safe drinking water. “It is estimated that, in Pakistan, 30 percent of all diseases and 40 percent of all deaths are due to poor water quality,” the report stated.
Diarrhea, a waterborne disease, is reported as the leading cause of death in infants and children in Pakistan while every fifth citizen suffers from illness and disease caused by the polluted water,” the report said.
