PESHAWAR, Nov 10: Lack of coordination among relief agencies involved in extending health services in the earthquake-affected parts of the Frontier province has led to undermining the effectiveness of relief work, representatives of foreign relief agencies told Dawn on Thursday.

They said that the NWFP government had not yet evolved a mechanism to disseminate information among the relief agencies — foreign and local organizations — about relief activities being spearheaded by volunteers as a result of which maximum benefit of the relief effort was difficult to be ensured.

Reservations about this were also voiced by representatives of some foreign relief agencies, including the Saudi Red Crescent Society and a Chinese medical team, at a workshop organized by the NWFP health department at Abbottabad on Wednesday to prepare the provincial government’s mid- and long-term plans for extending health cover in five earthquake-affected districts of the province.

A member of the Saudi team said: “In the absence of a proper mechanism of information dissemination among relief agencies a lot of confusion is being created.”

He said that there was no way to determine whether somebody had been vaccinated against a certain disease at another health facility being run in Mansehra by the other medical teams.

Similar views were expressed by a Chinese doctor who said that the government should provide information to the relief agencies about each other and as to “who is doing what” so that their efforts could be coordinated.

Talking to Dawn foreign medical volunteers said that the provincial government’s inability to “lead the relief activities from the front by guiding the relief agencies” had resulted in duplication of relief activities and over-concentration of works in certain specific areas leaving several affected parts unattended.

That also sound’s true in view of the fact that the provincial health department has failed to persuade relief agencies to take over the voluntary job of undertaking health services in Kohistan, Bisham and Abbottabad districts — three of the five most affected districts of the NWFP.

Similarly, the government also failed to receive overwhelming response from the relief agencies for undertaking health services in Battagram district as everybody is concentrating on Mansehra district, especially on the ruined city of Balakot.

In addition to a Chinese medical facility, Balakot also houses temporary health facilities set up separately by medical teams from Spain, UAE and Pakistan Medical Association. Besides, smaller facilities have been set up by some local volunteers in the ruined city.

“Balakot does not need 400 hospital beds because the city has been left with few people as a large number of its inhabitants died during the earthquake and most of the survivors have already left,” said Dr Aman of Save the Children, Pakistan.