Lahore hospitals report surge in gastroenteritis patients amid conflicting outbreak reports

LAHORE: Amid conflicting reports regarding the outbreak of gastroenteritis in the provincial capital, some hospitals witnessed an extraordinary rush of patients brought in with severe complications of the waterborne disease. The situation was said to be particularly alarming at the province’s largest teaching hospital, Mayo Hospital, where medics said they were receiving patients with complications including kidney failure and stroke. Other government hospitals, including Lahore General Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, witnessed a spike in the number of patients, while the management of Services Hospital said its patient numbers were routine. “We are receiving a good number of patients with stomach infections, which may be the result of massive rains in the city,” said a spokesperson for Lahore General Hospital. Quoting a senior medical consultant at the hospital, the spokesperson said the majority of hospitalised patients were children. “We are receiving a large number of patients with gastroenteritis, many of them with kidney failure and stroke, which requires epidemiological investigation by public health experts,” said Dr Salman Kazmi, a senior medical consultant at Mayo Hospital, Lahore. He said that every medical unit of the hospital was facing a very unusual situation due to the long queues of patients with gastro infections. “I strongly believe that there may be an outbreak of cholera in the city, which has led to the extraordinary increase in the number of gastroenteritis patients,” he said. Dr Kazmi, who is also secretary-general of the Young Doctors Association Pakistan, added that cholera outbreaks usually occur as a sudden spike in severe diarrhoea and dehydration caused by Vibrio cholerae bacteria from contaminated water or food. Other contributing factors to a cholera outbreak include poor hygiene practices, unsafe drinking water and contaminated food. “Even the emergency ward of Mayo Hospital has witnessed a high influx of patients with stroke, low blood pressure and complications from diarrhoea,” Kazmi said. He said he could not comment on the official number of patients reported at the hospital due to faulty procedures in the data registration system. Services Hospital Lahore Principal Prof Zohra said that everything was normal in the medical units of her teaching institute, denying any outbreak of diarrhoea or gastroenteritis so far. Dr Mohammad Arshad, a former senior consultant at Shaikh Zayed Hospital, said that every year hospitals and clinics see a sharp rise in patients suffering from stomach infections, diarrhoea, vomiting and fever during the monsoon season. Most of these illnesses were caused by contaminated water and food, he said, adding that the city’s major hospitals had been facing a rush of patients with gastroenteritis for the past two weeks or so. Arshad said the illness might be a result of improper food storage, exposure to street food and unsafe drinking water, adding that health authorities must investigate the situation and take precautionary measures. He further said food businesses needed to exercise caution. Arshad added that unsafe drinking water and contaminated food could affect digestive health and increase the risk of stomach infections, gastrointestinal infections and food poisoning.