KARACHI, Oct 19: A group of doctors and volunteers belonging to Karachi Medical and Dental College has expressed the view that deployment of female health workers and doctors in the quake affected areas was necessary for providing medical aid and care to women survivors.

Sharing the experiences of the Karachi Medical and Dental College doctors who have recently returned to the city after rendering their services to quake-hit people at a health centre in Mansehra district, KMDC Principal Prof Saadiya Aziz Karim said on Wednesday that there was an urgent need for extending support in cash also to the affected people.

She said that the doctors working in Azad Kashmir areas, like other areas, needed medical supply, including bandages, as most of the cases pertained to limb injuries. She said that female patients were reluctant to allow the male doctors to monitor and handle them in line with their culture and social practices, which subsequently increased the misery of the patients in question.

She said that while working at an earthquake surveillance cell of the KMDC and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, she had also convened a meeting of doctors and volunteers on Friday to mobilize women health workers and doctors to visit the affected areas as part of the KMDC’s mission for the benefit of woman survivors.

According to Prof Saadiya, in the wake of the disaster, the KMDC and Abbasi hospital, has organized cell under her supervision. The department of Community Health Sciences, headed by Dr Farah Asad and assisted by Dr Shaista Wahidi organized all efforts to share responsibilities.

Teams of orthopaedic specialists, young doctors and volunteers have already embarked and provided their services to the affected humanity. In this connection, the first team, headed by Dr Khalid Shafi, has returned recently from Mansehra. It has been replaced by another team of four orthopaedic surgeons headed by Dr Asif Qureshi and Dr Farhat Jaffery and two theatre technicians.

The KMDC mission has so far managed more than 20 complicated cases of miscellaneous fractures. Besides this, a team of young doctors, headed by Dr Ashraf Jehangir, is providing its ad hoc services in remote areas.

The teams are not only providing medical care but also collecting and distributing donated goods and monetary aid among the affected people.

Dr Saadiya hoped that more teams of doctors, including female doctors, would be motivated to replace the returning teams in order to maintain continuity in the services.

The long term plan of the surveillance cell is to keep a continuous watch on current health and social problems of earthquake victims and to resolve problems by joining hands with other working teams to rehabilitate the victims.

PAVHNA: A team of the Pakistan Voluntary Health and Nutrition Association left for Muzaffarabad with relief goods, including warm clothes, blankets, food items and huge quantity of medicines on Wednesday, APP adds.