Emergency Declared as Temperature in Karachi Hits 43 Degrees

Karachi is experiencing an intense heatwave in the city, as temperatures hit 43 degree Celsius. Authorities mention that the absence of sea breezes have contributed to the rise in temperatures as well.

The Sindh Government and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) have issued a “heat wave alert” citywide. All KMC hospitals, ambulance services are preparing themselves for patients who experience heat stroke in the days ahead.

To make matters worse, scheduled loadshedding from Karachi Electric (KE) will add to the woes of the citizens.

Based on the Met department’s forecasts, Karachi started experiencing a heatwave since Thursday morning.  After 12 pm, the heatwave reached its peak at 43 degree centigrade. To complicate matters further, the winds from the sea stopped, and dry and gusty winds started to surround the city.

Seemi Jamali from Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center told ProPakistani that in the current weather, people should not go out of office or home, and drink water whenever they can.

“People must adopt certain safety measures in order to avoid heat stroke. In case you start feeling hot and uncomfortable, you can take fruit juice, or cold water to stay hydrated. If you venture outside of your home or office, you must cover yourself from head to toe in order to avoid the intense heat,” Seemi added.

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Chhipa and Edhi Rescue Services commented that previously, they had to lift many people who fainted and have them shifted to nearby hospitals. They add that sometimes, some of those people passed away before they reached the hospital. It should be mentioned that no hospital has confirmed the exact number of casualties that happened due to heat stroke.

Emergency Health Services Go on Red Alert

The provincial Health Department has issued a “Red Alert” for this purpose for today and tomorrow.  The department informed all Executive Directors, Directors and Medical Superintendents to make the necessary arrangements on the following lines:

• Implementation of 24/7 Emergency in all Hospitals and Health facilities in view of the heat wave warning.
• No leave shall be allowed to any Medical/ Paramedical staff during the above mentioned days.
• Increase Medical and Paramedical staff where needed accordingly.
• Ensure availability and timely provision of all essential medicines , along with IV line and ORS for managing patients.
• Establish special wards for managing heat stroke cases in emergency with availability of air conditioning, ice, generator and water supply etc in order to ensure timely and effective management strategy.
• Provision of 27/7 well-equipped ambulance service for transportation.
• Submit report in the office of Special Secretary Health Department on daily basis regarding patients data.
• KMC should also make arrangements on similar grounds as well.

Power Issues

With the heatwave in progress, people are finding it hard to even turn on their Air conditioners and fans to beat the heat. At least one unit at K-Electric’s Bin Qasim Power Plant has tripped, and as a result the city is witnessing an energy shortfall of 200 MW. In total, Karachi is facing a shortfall of 500MW. KE has already announced an extra hour of loadshedding to cope with the rising power requirements in the city.

Sources say that unless matters improve, Karachi will have to brace itself for 9-12 hours of power breakdowns during the summer months.