Over 1,200 people have died in Pakistan's Sindh province, Karachi, due to a heat wave described as the worst in decades. Major hospitals in the country's largest city are struggling to cope with the unprecedented influx of patients seeking treatment for heat stroke related illness.

"At least 1,000 have been killed in Karachi only. I do not have data of rest of Sindh province but there are reports of deaths," said Anwar Kazmi of Edhi Foundation, to PTI. Edhi Foundation runs the largest ambulance service in the region. Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said that more than 200 have died in the interior areas of Sindh due to the intense heat wave.

Pakistani patients suffering from heat stroke receive treatment at a local hospital in Karachi, Pakistan | Source: PTI

"We are closing offices, schools and colleges not just in Karachi but throughout Sindh," Shah said in the Sindh Assembly. But he said offices that offer essential services like hospitals will remain open. This was announced in a bid to keep people indoors and away from the heat. The biggest state-owned hospital in Karachi, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, has reported a death toll of 325 people. Many of them had died while being treated for illnesses from the heatwave. The combined death toll at other hospitals run by Karachi Municipal Corporation has also risen to at least 340.

Men sleep in shade under a bridge during intense hot weather in Karachi | Source: Reuters