About Tharparkar Drought Documentary 2016
This year Tharparkar had been hit badly with Drought, hundreds of children died from diseases caused by malnutrition at Mithi Civil Hospital and lslamkot in the drought-hit Thar. Raising the death toll, according to official figures, to 222 this year. Thar OHO Dr. Chandar Lal told that most of the patients were newborns and underweight. So far, 51,680 kids were given medicines and 5,348 were admitted to six healthcare facilities of the district.
The children’s parents complained that their kids were being forcibly discharged from the Civil Hospital and were being referred to Hyderabad without providing them fuel for Ambulances. Dr. Iqbal Ahmed Bhurgari, Civil Surgeon, said that 165 children had died at the civil hospital during the past five months but sources said that 355 kids died across Thar this year.
Meanwhile, 598 health workers and dispensers, who were appointed in July last year 2015, have not received a salary so far. The unpaid workers had been posted at 180 closed dispensaries of the district, where medicines and furniture had been provided but to no avail, complained villagers. But Tharparkar D.C. Dr. Shahzad Tahir Thaheem claimed the situation was well under control The Media was not giving due coverage to their sincere efforts to mitigate the sufferings of Tharis. He said that four mobile dispensaries launched and providing the best healthcare facilities to people, who did not have easy access to hospitals.
This instigates us to visit Tharparkar personally and take a look at the claims. The journey begins from Mitthi and then later drives to lslamkot which was one of the most affected areas. The trade markets of Mitthi and lslamkot were found to be in their normal conditions however, it had been realized that the people who have money can afford food and water and ample funds is a big challenge for the people of Tharparkar and lslamkot. While investigating it was told by one of the villagers that a nearby village Khario Kaij Ghulam Shah is one among the most affected areas and our team started moving towards it.
During the drive, it was hundreds and thousands of acres of land with dry sand and we can find skeletons of species of Tharparkar, died because of the drought which was polluting the environment. After investigating it found that Sheep Pox (Commonly Known as Maata) is the most common disease found in the bread of Sheep in Tharparkar and Government had tried to vaccine as many sheep as possible however the locals had their own views about it and they feel that they had been neglected. Because of this Sheep Pox, it had increased the drought because locals cannot utilize these sheep/animals for nutrition. These sheep, goats, and cows give them milk and other dairy products associated with milk that helps the children and people living in these villages to complete their usual diet which by any means is less than the normal diet of a normal human being but sufficient to live. Almost 40,000 to 50,000 of the animals at Thar had died because of different diseases found in animals.
This gives a trigger down effect to the people living in Thar especially at lslamkot and surrounded areas. As mentioned before these villagers utilize these animals for their daily routine and they also sell these animals to earn their livelihood. When the animals were died in such a huge quantity because of the diseases these villagers do not find the nutrition which is associated with them also they provide money to the villagers through which they can buy commodities that are necessary for the day-to-day routine.
After analyzing the situation of small and comparatively big villages it had been concluded that this is a problem through which the people living in Tharparkar came across every year but it gets worse this year. More than anything if the people of Tharparkar are looking forward to are the vaccines for their animals because they have a complete economy going through with their animals and if it is working in a natural manner than half of their problems these brave villagers can fight with, by themselves. This project was hosted by Danish Anis and went on air on GEO.
