PESHAWAR: The health department has established camps to provide emergency health relief to people in flood-hit districts amid calls by medics for the provision of clean drinking water, essential medicines and proper shelter to the disaster victims to prevent the outbreak of diseases caused by the use of contaminated water and foods.

Prof Khalid Mahmood, a former physician at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar, told Dawn that the flood-hit areas were vulnerable to the spread of cholera, typhoid, leptospirosis, hepatitis A and E, malaria, dengue fever and snake bites.

“Lack of access to safe drinking water, improper sanitation, over crowded camps and scarcity of health care services has a compounding effect after floodwater recedes. The flood also affects the food supply chain negatively leading to malnutrition and stunted growth in children,” he said.

According to Prof Mahmood, the natural disasters cannot be prevented but their impacts can be mitigated by ensuring provision of reasonable cover/housing, uninterrupted safe drinking water, nutritious and hygienic food, controlling disease vector like mosquitoes, vaccination and snake-bite prevention measures.

Health dept sets up camps to offer emergency care

CEO of the Health Net Hospital Prof Syed Amjad Taqweem said the people in the calamity-hit areas were at the risk of being bitten by animals and reptiles.

He said evacuation of patients also increased disease burden in addition to loss of health workers, infrastructure and essential drugs and supplies, so immediate steps should be taken to prevent the spread of diseases among vulnerable people.

Prof Amjad said an increase in food and water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, food poisoning, typhoid fever, cholera, leptospirosis and hepatitis A and E was common in flood victims.

He said vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, and dengue hemorrhagic fever could be controlled by sheltering them properly tents with availability of clean water, dry food, plastic shoes and other materials to remain intact in water.

The physician called for the setting up of medical camps at places close to the calamity-hit areas besides the patients easy access to them along with air, water and transport.

“Road blockages leading to difficulty in transportation of seriously ill patients to the health facilities and save their lives are other flood-related issues,” he said.

Officials at the directorate-general health services said emergency control rooms had been established at district and provincial level to monitor and take urgent measures.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Teaching Hospital established 20-bed ward and a disaster management committee with director Mohammad Zafar Afridi as its chief to supervise care of patients coming from flood-hit areas.

A news release said weekly offs of staff members had been cancelled to ensure uninterrupted services to patients.

KTH medical director Dr Mohammad Siraj said the hospital had organised medical camps in Nowshera and Charsadda to extend emergency medical relief to the people and refer the seriously-sick ones to the KTH for treatment.

Young Doctors Association leader Dr Aftab Marwat said free health clinics had been established in Nowshera and Charsadda districts, where over 1,000 patients had been examined.

“Our district chapters are holding free medical camps,” he said.

Dr Salim Khan Yousafzai of the Provincial Doctors’ Association (PDA) also reported the establishment of such camps in Swat, Charsadda, Malakand, Nowshera, Dir, Dera Ismail Khan and Chitral districts to prevent disease outbreaks.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2022