Hundreds of pneumonia cases reported in quake-hit areas of AJK
By Tariq Naqash
MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 30: Health officials said on Tuesday that hundreds of people, most of them children, had contracted pneumonia in the earthquake-stricken areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
“Yes, we are receiving pneumonia cases running into hundreds from different areas. Most of the victims are children,” the district health officer in Muzaffarabad, Sardar Mahmood Ahmed Khan, told Dawn.
A three-member health team has been sent to Darbang and Nariola villages to evaluate the situation and more teams were expected to arrive from Islamabad in a day or two.
Pneumonia and other cold-related diseases are fairly common in the winter but this year the number of patients suffering from such diseases has swelled as compared to previous years, Mr Khan said.
“This is because winter is much more intense this year and because most of the survivors do not have adequate shelter or clothing.”
“Given the vulnerability of the survivors in the freezing cold, such cases are bound to increase, but we are prepared to cope with the situation,” he said.
The AJK health department has urged the federal ministry of health to send reinforcements. Six mobile teams are expected to reach Muzaffarabad by Wednesday evening.
“We will dispatch teams to areas where there are reports of outbreaks of cold-related diseases.”
Azad Kashmir received its first harsh winter weather at the weekend with up to 8 inches of snowfall at high altitudes and up to 1.2 inches (32 mm) of rain in lower areas, multiplying the miseries of survivors and hampering relief operations. Relief operations resumed on Monday after the weather cleared and continued on Tuesday, but the chill persists.
DENIAL: The UN and local health authorities denied reports of cold-related deaths on Monday, although a doctor told a UN news agency that he was witness to one death in Nariola village.
“This information is not confirmed as yet. The health department teams are evaluating the situation,” said World Health Organization team leader in Muzaffarabad Dr Umar Saleh.
“A child death of pneumonia is always expected in such conditions. This is what we are preparing to cope with. But the mortality rate has decreased below the safe level,” he told Dawn at the UN compound here.
Separately, Unicef health officer Taimur Mueenuddin said that there had not been any confirmation of cold-related deaths.
“It is a little bit too early to speak about the consequences of the cold weather because it has just started,” he said.
UN officials were however concerned about the increasing vulnerability of shelterless earthquake survivors.
“We certainly haven’t provided shelter to everybody. It’s increasing peoples’ vulnerability and we are very much concerned about it,” said Pat Duggan, head of the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in Muzaffarabad.
