KARACHI: Health deptt seeks Rs98m for relief operation
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 16: The health department has requested the Sindh chief minister to provide a special grant of Rs98 million for the supply of medicines and renovation of healthcare facilities in the rain-hit districts of the province on priority basis.
This was stated by Sindh Health Minister Shabbir Qaimkhani at a press conference here on Saturday at the Sindh Secretariat building.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that the health department’s doctors and paramedics had so far been able to take care of the people in the rain affected areas of Hyderabad and other districts efficiently, but the worst after the rains was yet to come as far as health condition of people and outbreak of waterborne diseases were concerned.
Mr Qaimkhani said that teams of international agencies dealing in food, health and sanitation programmes from Islamabad were already busy visiting Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Tando Allahyar, Tandojam, Mirpurkhas and other areas after heavy rainfall on September 7 and his department was waiting for their reports and assessment of the situation.
He said that being the health minister and member of the relief committee of the Sindh Cabinet, he stayed at Hyderabad for about a week to monitor the relief activities and provision of healthcare facilities to the affected people.
The minister said that Hyderabad had been badly hit by rains and it was sure that time would be needed to get things back to normal there. However one thing is sure that there is no dearth of medicines and people are given all kinds of treatment and guidance to avert any further epidemic condition, he informed.
Mr Qaimkhani said that a supply of 2.5 million chlorine tablets had been received from Unicef for onwards distribution among the residents of Hyderabad to improve the quality of drinking water. In addition to the health department’s procurement, some pharmaceutical companies and philanthropists were also providing medicines, foods and other necessary items to the affected people, while the health staffers were also on high alert at hospitals, health camps and mobile services, he added.
Giving details of the diseases spreading in Hyderabad due to rains, stagnant water and impure drinking water, the minister said that about 32,550 people suffering from various diseases reported to the government hospitals and fixed health facilities, out of which 4,546 had diarrhoea.
A majority of diarrhoea patients were returned after giving necessary treatment while critical cases were admitted to hospitals, he added, saying that as many as seven people had died due to diarrhoea from Sept 7 to 15 at Hyderabad.
Besides gastro and diarrhoea, cases of fever, skin and eye ailments have also been reported to the health camps and hospitals as an epidemic like situation prevailed in Hyderabad, he added and said that there could be shortage of medicines and infrastructure in the days to come.
The minister said that 2,230 people with eye infections, another 11,821 with skin diseases, 2,445 of fever and 4,880 with chest congestion and throat infections were given treatment at 15 fixed and four mobile medical camps of the Sindh health department in Hyderabad and its surrounding areas.
Coming on to relief work, the minister appreciated the role of World Food Programme of the UN and Unicef for extending support to the rain-hit people and also mentioned that on the directives of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir premier, the AJK DG health had also assured all-out support in the relief activities.
He hoped that the federal government and other provinces would also show generosity towards the rain-hit people of Sindh. He said that he had been given to understand that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz would also visit Hyderabad and other parts of Sindh shortly.
