Daily Times

LAHORE: Hamid Ahmed had to run a quick errand on a July evening, so he took his umbrella and came out of his house as it was heavily raining. The street of his house in Township was deserted and was under ankle-deep water. Taking steps very cautiously, he was going to the nearby market, when he put his left foot in a pothole, lost his balance and crashed onto the road. As he fell, he cried loudly, for his left arm fractured near the hand. “I remained on the road for half an hour crying out for help, until a car stopped by and called Rescue 1122 and my family,” says Mr Ahmed (55), who has been under treatment since that day in Jinnah Hospital’s orthopedic ward. Doctors on duty say that he will be discharged in two days, but the plaster on his arm will be removed after two months, and till then he will have to be bed-ridden so that the fractured arm does not develop any further complication.

Mr Ahmed is not alone in the Jinnah Hospital who is being treated for an injury stemming from a rain-related incident. The Jinnah Hospital has received 25 patients in the first two weeks of July who suffered fractures because of rains. Doctors say the patients, mostly in 50s, suffered minor to fatal fractures on their backs, legs and hands due to slippery conditions. Of the admitted patients, two were women, who had fallen from stairs because of the slippery in rains in their houses. Five people had fallen from their motorcycles while driving in a drizzle.

“Roads become slippery in the beginning of the rain, and one need to be very conscious,” says Dr Muzammil Hussain, of the King Edward College, Lahore. Also, when oil is mixed with the rainwater on road, it makes the road slippery. In house, when there is no slippery-proof mat or tile, stairs and floor become a slippery trap. In Jinnah Hospital, 10 patients were critically injured in slippery fall while 15 others had minor injuries. Another under-treatment patient, Amir, blamed the government’s failure to drain water from streets for his injury. “Lots of water always gathers in my area whenever it rains, and it creates difficulties for me,” he bemoaned. He was riding his motorcycle in the rain when he fell because of the slippery, and got his leg fractured. “Rain is a blessing of God but due to government’s mismanagement, people face a very tough time in different areas where the rainwater is gathered for so many days,” he said. Another patient, who gave his last name Hashmi said he slipped while going to the mosque after rains in his street and got his hand fractured. He says whenever it rains, the mud accumulated in the street, makes it a slippery ground and it makes walking a difficult task.

“My children also face a difficult time in the rainy season because of muddy roads. They have slipped many times but luckily, they did not develop any fracture but they got their clothes dirty,” said Bushra, a patient with leg fracture. Doctors say children are less prone to slippery injuries. On the next bed lies Nabeela Rajput, who appealed to the government to take notice of slippery roads and make such a system that rainwater does not accumulate on roads and streets.

The authors are the students of the Mass Communication, MMC 2014-16, of the Superior University, Lahore.