ISLAMABAD: At least 22 people lost their lives in Islamabad and Mardan after suffering from heatstroke, health officials said Monday.
Eighteen people lost their lives in Mardan on June 24 (Saturday) due to sunstroke, Mardan Medical Complex Chief Dr Tariq Mehmood said, adding, most of the victims were women over 50 years.
Several cities across the country experienced boiling weather last week, with unannounced electricity loadshedding adding to the miseries of the masses.
Moreover, four people have died of heatstroke in the federal capital in the same period, the officials said.
Rethe Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) denied reports of any death at the health facility due to extreme heat, adding the district administration had brought four people dead, who probably died due to heatstroke.
All possible assistance was being provided to facilitate patients and their attendants at the healthcare facility, they explained.
At least four people were brought dead at the hospital’s emergency by the district administration on Saturday, who probably died due to heatstroke during extreme heatwave-like conditions, they reiterated.
Dr Mubashir Daha, a spokesman for the PIMS, said there were complete evidence that the people were not alive when they were brought to the health facility.
The hospital had received over a dozen heatstroke patients last week from different areas of Islamabad; however, all were treated and discharged when their condition improved, he explained.
To a question he said nine air-conditioning units had been installed at the old emergency building of PIMS on Saturday, while efforts were being made to get the central cooling system functional as early as possible. –Agencies
