Around 17,000 People In Iraq Suffering From Illness Due To Contaminated Water - Reports

Around 17,000 People in Iraq Suffering From Illness Due to Contaminated Water - Reports

Around 17,000 cases of colic and diarrhea have been reported in Iraq over the past two weeks due to the water contamination crisis affecting the country, especially its southern Basra province, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing the Iraq Ministry of Health Public Health Directorate's Basra director, Riad Abdul-Amir.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th August, 2018) Around 17,000 cases of colic and diarrhea have been reported in Iraq over the past two weeks due to the water contamination crisis affecting the country, especially its southern Basra province, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing the Iraq Ministry of Health Public Health Directorate's Basra director, Riad Abdul-Amir.

"The hospitals in Basra receive about 1,500 such cases on a daily basis," Abdul-Amir said, as quoted by the media outlet.

He went on to say that 20 percent of the 17,000 reported cases had symptoms of cholera, which meant that the threat of an outbreak in the region was high.

According to Asharq Al-Awsat, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi has called on local authorities to address the issue by providing safe water, and also urged the country's Ministries of Defense, Transportation and Energy to contribute to ensuring water supplies.

In addition, the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights in Basra has voiced its concern over the fact that there was only one hospital in the region where cases related to polluted water poisoning could be treated.

Asharq Al-Awsat added, citing anonymous sources in Basra, that local citizens had organized a rally in order to voice their protest over lack of progress in resolving the problem. Basra's Syndicate of Journalists staged another rally, calling on the central and local governments to find a solution.

According to media reports, people living in Basra have long been suffering from salty and polluted water, as desalinization facilities failed to provide them with sufficient amounts of safe drinking water. In July and early August, mass protests were held in Basra and other southern provinces. Finding a solution to the water crisis was just one of the demands of the protesters, who also called on the government to address unemployment and the electricity shortage.