|
|
| October 26, 2005 | Wednesday | Ramzan 21, 1426 |
Rs75m for welfare of survivors
ISLAMABAD, Oct 25: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has sanctioned Rs75 million for immediate disbursement among the quake-hit people under treatment at the civil and military hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Health Secretary Syed Anwar Mahmood told a meeting of the National Disaster Management Committee held here on Tuesday.
The health secretary told the meeting that Rs10,000 were being disbursed among the seriously injured, while those with minor injuries would get Rs5,000.
The official said that taking cognizance of the hardships being faced by the injured patients, the prime minister had ordered immediate disbursement of Rs75 million that was in addition to the financial compensation already announced by the government for the quake-hit people.
The meeting was told that there was no shortage of blood and blood screening kits at any health facility or medical camp established by the Ministry of Health in the quake-hit areas. The blood banks established by the Ministry of Health are full to capacity.
In view of lack of adequate medical facilities for the affected people in areas close to the Line of Control, the Ministry of Health decided to establish a medical camp at Chinari. In this connection, a medical and logistics team is being dispatched on Wednesday.
The meeting was told that considering the risk of infection to the medical practitioners handling the injured, doctors and paramedics were being immunised against Hepatitis-B and Tetanus.
This is besides the Tetanus Toxoid injections being given to all injured upon admission to a health facility or medical camp.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Tuesday announced a grant of Rs40 million for the hospitals and relief camps established here to meet the requirements of the quake victims.
The provincial government has so far spent over Rs1 billion for the quake victims.
Speaking at a press conference here, the chief minister said that Rs10 million would be given to the three hospitals each here in addition to Rs5 million for the two relief camps each established here for the quake survivors.
He said his government was taking every possible step to remove the hardships being faced by the survivors and added that an additional 13,000 beds had been spared in the Punjab hospitals for the quake victims.
The chief minister said he would ask the tent manufacturers to prepare snow-proof tents, as normal tents would not function effectively in the snowfall areas of Mansehra district and Muzaffarabad.
Replying to a question, the chief minister said he would also ask the Rawalpindi administration to make arrangements for establishing a tent city to decrease the load of quake survivors at the camps established in the other parts of the country.—Agencies
|
|
