KARACHI, July 11: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stressed the need for a fully-fledged system and mechanism to efficiently handle the situation arising out of natural calamities in Sindh.

WHO representative Dr Khalif Bile Mohamud, along with some other officials of the organisation, called on Chief Secretary Shakeel Durrani and discussed with him the establishment of a permanent ‘emergency preparedness and response cell’ within the provincial health department.

Health Secretary Mumtaz-ur-Rahman, Special Secretary (Public Health) Dr Abdul Majid and EDO Health Dr A.D. Sanjani were also present at the meeting.

Mr Mohamud is on a two-day visit to the province to assess the situation and the government’s handling of the emergency.

He was of the view that the establishment of such a cell would help the government tackle any health emergencies properly and effectively.

The Disease Early Warning System (DEWS), introduced recently in the province, also figured in the meeting, which noted that the system was vital to detect, investigate and pre-empt an impending epidemic in an area affected by floods.

Dr Mohamud said WHO would organise two separate training workshops on the system, one for Karachi and the other for the flood-affected areas of Sindh, in the third week this month. He suggested that the system be integrated with the proposed emergency cell.

The DEWS is aimed at keeping daily reports on neonatal deaths, pregnancy-related deaths, neonatal tetanus, acute watery diarrhoea, bloody diarrhoea, suspected cholera, suspected malaria, suspected measles, acute respiratory infection, acute jaundice syndrome, wounds and injuries, dog bites, snake bites, scabies, acute flaccid paralysis, suspected meningitis, unexplained high fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever.

Dr Mohamud told the meeting that casualties would occur in three phases in a natural disaster. He explained that immediate deaths would occur when a disaster hit an area, the affected ones would succumb in the next few days, and more loss of life would occur in the outbreak of diseases. “The health sector response averts both the second and third wave of deaths,” he said.

Mr Durrani expressed his keen interest in the proposed emergency preparedness and response cell and DEWS. The provincial health secretary pledged to extend full cooperation towards the establishment of the cell and integrating the DEWS with the cell.

Separately, speaking at a routine meeting of the newly established Health Emergency Operations Cell, being run by the health department, WHO, Unicef and UNFPA, Dr Mohamud emphasized the need for launching a vaccination drive to protect the children displaced after the recent rains against measles, tetanus and diphtheria.

He also laid stress on checking diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and hepatitis.