ISLAMABAD: The government has failed to release funds for providing medical facilities to the internally-displaced persons (IDPs) living in squalid camps in Bannu.

Because of the unavailability of funds, government hospitals in the federal capital are seeking donations from private firms and people to ensure medical facilities for the IDPs.

In the wake of the operation Zarb-i-Azb launched in North Waziristan in June, hundreds of thousands of IDPs from the area reached Bannu. On the direction of the federal government, medical teams from hospitals in Islamabad were sent to the camps to provide medical facilities to the IDPs.

Know more: Health facilities for IDPs

On August 12, Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Barrister Usman Ibrahim sent a letter to Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Abdul Qadir Baloch, who is the in-charge of the relief work for the IDPs, for releasing funds on an urgent basis.

In the letter, he stated that due to the huge influx of IDPs, CADD established a field hospital in Bannu on June 28.

Around 400 patients were facilitated by a medical team at the DHQ hospital Bannu. To manage and bear the medical expenses of the IDPs, it was requested that Rs5 million should be released from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

An official of CADD requesting not to be identified said the request for the funds moved from one table to another and finally on August 12 the Ministry of Safron directed the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) to provide necessary support to the IDPs.

“So far, we have been waiting but the funds could not be released due to which the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has started seeking donations from companies and its own employees to continue the medical services,” he said.

“The minister of state for CADD has been contacting the PM Secretariat and the Ministry of Safron besides talking to the minister, but the funds could not be released even after one month,” he said.

Vice Chancellor Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University Islamabad Prof Dr Javed Akram told Dawn that the government hospitals in the federal capital had no extra funds to be spent on the IDPs.

“I arranged Rs2 million from two companies as a donation. Moreover, female professors have donated Rs100,000 each and that is why we have been able to provide the health services to the IDPs.”

He said the members of the medical team were changed on a weekly basis so transportation had to be provided to them.

“I was considering paying additional Rs500 to the medical officers, Rs300 to nurses and Rs200 to drivers and other staff per day but it is not possible due to the shortage of funds,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2014