Pakistan battles disease surge as flood deaths surpass 1,600

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has deployed thousands more doctors and medics to battle the outbreak of disease as the death toll from the unprecedented floods that have gripped the country this summer surpassed 1,600. The disaster management agency said on Friday that 10 more people had died from the floods in the past 24 hours — four in Sindh, the worst-hit province in the deluge, and six in Baluchistan province — bringing the overall number of fatalities to 1,606 across Pakistan. Some of the doctors refusing to work in Sindh province have been fired. Unprecedented monsoon rains and flooding, which many experts attribute to climate change, have affected 33 million people and destroyed or damaged 2 million homes since mid-June.