Karachi: Millions of people in Pakistan's largest city heaved a sigh of relief as temperatures plunged by nearly 10 degrees on Thursday after rain lashed the parched Sindh province, providing a break from the killer heatwave that claimed over 1,000 lives in less than a week.
The temperatures, which hovered around 45 degrees Celsius for the most of the past week, plunged to around 35 degrees Celsius as sea breezes and cloud cover brought some respite to the port city in the last two days.
Met office has forecast more rains signalling an extended relief from the crippling heatwave sweeping Karachi since June 19. It said the weekend was the hottest since 1981.
Pakistan Meteorological Department's chief meteorologist Touseef Alam warned of another bout of heatwave next week, with temperatures likely to soar to 42 to 43 degrees Celsius.
Government and rescue officials confirmed that the death count from the heatwave, the worst to hit Karachi and Sindh province in over 30 years, was around 1,100.
"The dead count from most of the hospitals in Karachi has crossed 1,000," Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon said. More deaths have also been reported from the interior region of the province, Memon said.
Karachi, the city of nearly 20 million people, also had to contend with massive power cuts during the holy month of Ramzan, triggering violent protests in a few places. Seemi Jamali, a senior official at the Jinnah hospital here, said the count of dead bodies had come close to 350.
Anwar Kazmi, an official of the Edhi Foundation -- Pakistan's largest welfare charity and a leading provider of emergency medical care in Karachi -- said the morgues run by them are struggling to keep up with flow of bodies.
"It has been a very demanding week for us because we have had dead bodies pouring in and the government hospitals have also been overloaded with patients suffering from heat strokes and other heat-related illnesses," Kazmi said.
He said even now the number of patients getting treatment for heat-related illnesses in government hospitals were around 3,000.
Hospitals have been struggling to cope with the sudden increase in patients. Dedicated heatstroke treatment centres have been set up by Pakistan Army around Karachi to treat thousands of people affected by heatstroke.
The heatwave crisis has started a blame game between the central government, run by Pakistan Muslim League-N, and the Sindh government of main Opposition Pakistan Peoples Party.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and other members has staged a sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly to voice their anger over the lack of support from the federal government.
Sindh government declared a public holiday on Wednesday in a bid to keep people indoors, away from the heat. The provincial government has cancelled leave for doctors and other staff and is increasing stocks of medical supplies.
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