SHANGLA: Shamsuddin, 36, a resident of Ochor village in Dubair area of Lower Kohistan district, was shifting his six-year-old daughter, Ulfat Bibi, on his shoulders to a hospital in Bisham here when she breathed her last midway, days after the devastating floods in August last year washed away all the health facilities in his area.

Shamsudin’s village has been cut off since the flash floods swept away a 37-kilometre-long road running along the Dubair River, all health facilities and other government infrastructure.

The lack of health facilities and communication infrastructure is compelling the locals to shift patients to hospitals in charpoys negotiating long and rough terrains. Some critical patients have succumbed while being taken to hospitals.

According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority statistics, seven health facilities out of a total of nine were destroyed in Bankad tehsil of the district. Besides, the August floods claimed lives of 21 persons and caused injuries to six others in different parts of Lower Kohistan.

Mohammad Saeed, who is a social activist in the area and collected data on destruction and displacements after the floods, told Dawn that seven health facilities had been washed away by the floods in the tehsil. He identified these as basic health unit (BHU) in Manaikhel area of Ranolia union council, BHU Jag in Dubair Pine UC, BHU Mujh Gali in Duabir Khas UC, BHU Bala in Dubair Bala UC, BHU Baneel Qala in Singayon UC, BHU Kayal in Kayal UC and a rural health centre in Pareshely area.

He said these health facilities were situated along the Dubair River.

Mr Saeed said the World Health Organisation with the help of local health department had restored water supply to the partially damaged hospital buildings. He said the government should devise a policy for disaster risk reduction in the area because floods wreaked havoc in the region every year.

Like Shamsuddin, Mohammad Bashir, his fellow villager, also suffered the same fate in the immediate aftermath of the floods, as his 16-year-old daughter lost her life while being shifted to a hospital in charpoy.

Shamsudin told Dawn that their daughters were suffering from diarrhea, which broke out in the area after the floods. “My whole family, including myself, got sick after the floods. I took my daughter on shoulders to shift her to a hospital in Bisham, but she died in Kass area of Dubair, and I had to return home with the body of my daughter,” Shamsudin told Dawn.

He said if there was a functional hospital near his village her daughter’s life could have been saved.

Mohammad Bashir said when he felt that his daughter’s condition was deteriorating, he opted to take her to hospital in a charpoy with the help of other villagers, but she could not survive and died on the way.

Javid Khan, a resident of Dubair, who was shifting a patient to a hospital in Swat, said floods had destroyed the health infrastructure in Dubair.

He appealed to the government to rehabilitate the hospital buildings and ensure provision of essential facilities there as soon as possible.

Mohammad Saqib Khan, additional deputy commissioner, Lower Kohistan, told Dawn that the situation in the district was returning to normal as the main road of Dubair valley was being rehabilitated fast. He said rehabilitation of the government infrastructure would be done soon.

Published in Dawn, january 2th, 2023