ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: The health ministry’s disaster management committee has decided to strengthen its main camp in Muzaffarabad by providing specialist services along with necessary surgical apparatus to quake-ravaged victims.

At a meeting presided over by Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan on Monday, the committee decided to convert the Muzaffarabad base camp into a patient referral centre to help reduce the burden on hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi hospitals, which have been overstretched because of the constant flow of patients.

Until Monday, the civil hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi had received 9,165 patients, all of whom required immediate medical care and surgery. Out of these, 3,286 patients had been transferred to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). The hospital is currently housing 1,037 patients.

Similarly, 925 patients were taken to the Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH). Of them, 380 have been admitted. Two hundred patients were admitted to the Capital Hospital, 53 to the National Institute of Handicapped (NIH), 593 to the Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH), 284 to the District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital, 32 to Nescom hospital, 84 to the KRL hospital, 350 to Holy Family Hospital, 117 to Railway Hospital, 190 to the Social Security Hospital, 38 to the National Institute of Health Satellite hospital, 401 to the Cantonment hospital and 217 to the Fauji Foundation hospital.