MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 30: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has established a coordination cell in a hospital here to compile information about outbreak of diseases and administration of vaccines, an official said on Friday.

“Since we will not stay here for good we want to increase the capacity of local health department so that they can cope with the situation on their own in the coming days,” Dr Shahram Talebian told Dawn.

The cell has been set up in the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences and it would collect information on a daily basis from different non-governmental organisations operating in the region about medical referrals and evacuation (of injured survivors) and arrangement for mobile teams to remote areas for vaccination campaign, he added.

In reply to a question, Dr Talebian said the problem so far was not of funds, but of experts and professionals.

“We are constantly making appeals for national and international experts and professionals. Perhaps the people who have capacity to deal with such disasters are also less in number,” he said.

Shelter for survivors: AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat has said that setting up tent cities and sheds of metallic sheets to provide shelters to the quake survivors is the top priority of his government, says Online.

He was talking to UN Assistant General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia Pacific Hafiz Pasha here on Sunday at the Prime Minister House.

The premier said three districts of the AJK were badly affected in Oct 8 quake, causing colossal loss of life and property. The rehabilitation of the quake victims was under way, he added.

In this hour of crisis, armed forces, foreign organizations and countries had provided relief material, he told the UN body official.

Now the need was there that shelter be provided to the people living along the LoC and in remote areas before the onset of harsh winter, he said.