Beverages sold by street vendors are a leading cause of diarrhoea and gastroenteritis, say doctors
Posted by African Press International on July 13, 2009
PAKISTAN: Taking away more than a lolly
 Photo: Kulsum Ebrahim/IRIN  |
| Beverages sold by street vendors are a leading cause of diarrhoea and gastroenteritis, say doctors |
KARACHI, – Beware water used by street vendors in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, health experts say. The blob of crushed ice, popularly known as `gola ganda’, laced with red and green sweetened syrups and a dollop of sweet condensed milk may look tantalizing but might be lethal, says Samrina Hashimi, general secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi.
With Karachi’s temperature soaring, it is these ices, chilled sherbets and punches sold by street vendors which are a leading cause of diarrhoea and gastroenteritis, said Hashimi.
The first week of June saw 2,361 cases of diarrhoea in the outpatient departments of various government hospitals and 173 admitted cases in the 18 administrative units of Karachi alone, according to the office of the Director General, Health, Karachi.
Sindh Minister for Health Saghir Ahmed has directed all Executive District Officers (EDOs) for Health in Sindh to establish control rooms to register and monitor the cases of diarrhoea/gastroenteritis, on a daily basis.
The health department has provided 279,500 packets of oral rehydration solution in the 12 most-affected districts of Sindh Province.
In the first half of May, as many as 16,912 patients complaining of diarrhoea were treated in various hospitals across Sindh, while 4,643 were admitted. One death was also reported in Mirpurkhas due to diarrhoea during that period.
“Perhaps the worst you can do to your stomach, especially in this heat, is to consume anything from outside that has water which is suspect,” said Hashimi.
These include one of the most popular street food savory items – ‘channa chaat’, made of chickpeas with tamarind chutney over it, cut vegetables like cucumber and radishes, and seasonal fruits with ice, she added.
Instead, she said: “Take water from home or drink a carbonated drink if you are parched, but try not to buy juices and cold drinks from those street vendors. Even if they say they are using boiled water, what about the ice that they purchase from God knows where.” Many vendors still use glasses and china plates instead of disposable paper cups and plates and spoons and may not rinse them after each use.
However, those practices are not confined to Karachi only, a street vendor selling sugar cane juice on one of the streets of Lahore, capital of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab Province, was serving his clients with glass cups full of ice and juice after just immersing those cups in a water tank without any detergent. Huge chunks of ice were being crushed into pieces under unhygienic conditions on the spot.
ze/at/cb/bp source.www.irinnews.org
