A sanitary worker, who fell unconscious while cleaning a manhole, was suffocated to death on Thursday in Umerkot after the doctors at Civil Hospital allegedly refused to treat him until the body was cleaned. The deceased, Irfan Masih, 30-year-old, along with three other sanitary staff had stepped down into a manhole for the routine inspection.
He died hours later in the hospital while the other three sanitary workers, Faisal Masih, Yaqoob Masih and Shaukat Masih, were shifted to Karachi for a medical treatment.
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The doctors refused to provide Irfan with necessary treatment because of his body drenched in sewage sludge.
Speaking to Dawn, the victim’s brother, Parvez, said, “My brother died during the process of cleansing the filth from his body”.
“He cleaned his brother’s body, after which the doctors sent an oxygen cylinder. “But the cylinder was empty. And, before they could arrange another cylinder, he died”.
However, when the workers fell unconscious while cleaning the manhole, the local residents pulled out the staff from the manhole and shifted them to the hospital. Earlier, the central manhole also claimed the lives of two sanitary workers in 2012. Krishan Gujarati and Nawaz Masih were the two victims.
His mother claimed that the doctors refused to treat him because they were fasting and said my son was unclean.
However, after Irfan’s death, the family, community and locals staged a 10-hours sit-in demonstration on the inter-district road connecting Umerkot to other parts of Sindh. The Additional Deputy Commissioner, Subhash Chandar Sham, assured that an inquiry will be conducted against the doctors and the municipal authorities.
“An inquiry team is being constituted to investigate the case. If the municipal officers or doctors are found to be involved … the government will take action,” he told the local media.
