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Tag: deaths

  • Pakistan Worst Heat Wave Kills More Than 1000

    Pakistan Worst Heat Wave Kills More Than 1000

    KARACHI — The worst heat wave to hit Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi in nearly 35 years has killed more than 1,000 people, a charity said today (June 25), as morgues ran out of space and public hospitals struggled to cope.

    The heat wave in the city of 20 million people coincided with severe electricity cuts, leaving many without fans, water or light, and the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, when many Muslims do not eat or drink during daylight hours.

    Some shops have refused to sell ice or water during the day, citing religious laws that mean they can be fined. It is also illegal to eat or drink in public from dawn to dusk.

    An influx of bodies into the morgues has forced medical officials to store bodies in body bags on the floor, said Mr Anwar Kazmi, a senior official of the charitable organisation the Edhi Foundation. Air conditioning units at the morgue have stopped working.

    The provincial government had done little except try to blame others, he said.

    “We pay tributes to the doctors and staff of the government hospitals who are working tirelessly treating endless number of patients,” he said. “The Sindh government has done nothing except blaming K-electric for the deaths.”

    K-electric is the private power company that supplies power to Karachi. It says illegal connections are overloading the lines and demand has surged in the heat.

    The government owes more than US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) in unpaid bills, K-electric said.

    Temperatures shot up to 44°C at the weekend, although they have since dipped to 38°C. The meteorological department said the weekend was the hottest since 1981. Forecasters have been predicting rain for days, but there has been no significant fall.

    “The death toll from the heat wave has now crossed over 1,000 mark. These deaths have mainly taken place at government-run hospitals and few major private hospitals,” Mr Kazmi said. “There are lots of unreported deaths at small private hospitals.”

    Many hospitals issued urgent appeals overnight for bed sheets, cold water and other basic items. Decades of chronic neglect by successive civilian governments or military regimes have gutted social services like health and education.

    Since the crisis hit, the provincial government has ordered shops, marriage halls and restaurants to close early and announced a one-day government holiday and a protest sit-in, the daily newspaper Dawn said.

    “What makes these announcements absurd is that they have very little to do with the deaths from heat stroke,” it said.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Suicide and Heart Attack Main Causes Of Deaths Of Adults In Singapore

    Suicide and Heart Attack Main Causes Of Deaths Of Adults In Singapore

    Suicide and heart attack were the top causes of deaths among 15- to 49-year-olds here last year, accounting for 337 lives, while the top killer for those aged 70 and older was pneumonia.

    These figures, which did not go into greater detail, come from a global study published in The Lancet medical journal yesterday comparing causes of death and burden of disease in 188 countries between 1990 and last year.

    In that period, global life expectancy went up from 65.3 years to 71.5 years – though people in Singapore fared far better with women living an average of 84 years and men 79.7 years.

    The study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with hundreds of collaborators from around the world led by Professor Christopher Murray of the University of Washington.

    Prof Murray said collective action against potentially deadly infectious diseases such as diarrhoea, measles, tuberculosis, HIV and malaria has had a huge impact in reducing deaths.

    But he added that some major chronic diseases have been neglected and are becoming increasing threats to life, particularly drug disorders, liver cirrhosis, diabetes and kidney disease.

    In Singapore, deaths from chronic kidney disease and pancreatic cancer tripled between 1990 and last year. Pneumonia deaths also increased by 56 per cent.

    Associate Professor Reshma Merchant, who heads general medicine at National University Hospital, said pneumonia in the elderly is often due to dementia or frailty that causes difficulty in swallowing. She said: “Swallowing problems can have devastating health implications, including dehydration, malnutrition and pneumonia which affects quality of life and increases caregiver burden.”

    Deaths from congenital problems and asthma fell by 70 per cent and 39 per cent respectively.

    The study noted gender differences with far more men in Singapore dying from lung cancer and women from stroke. Last year, 953 men and 550 women died of lung cancer; and 1,449 women and 1,044 men from stroke.

    Dr Ross Soo, a senior cancer consultant at the National University Cancer Institute, said many studies show women with lung cancer do better than men – regardless of whether they have radiation or chemotherapy. He added: “The reasons for the gender differences are very complex and are not well understood.”

    At a global level, standardised for age, deaths from some cancers have fallen since 1990: lung by 9 per cent, breast by 18 per cent and leukaemia by 20 per cent. Deaths from heart disease and strokes have fallen by over 20 per cent.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com