ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: A patient tracking database is being introduced at the Chaklala Air base to catalogue in which hospitals the patients airlifted from the quake-ravaged areas are being shifted for necessary treatment.

The decision to this effect was taken during a meeting of the Disaster Management Committee of the Ministry of Health held at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) here on Sunday.

The meeting was presided over by Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan and also attended by the representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef.

Hundreds of patients are being brought to the Chaklala Airbase through helicopters on daily basis, from where they are shifted to different hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) is also receiving scores of patients daily and is sending stable patients to other public hospitals of the country in order to admit the seriously injured people. Tents have also been put up in the hospital grounds for the families of the patients.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stressed the importance of provision of clean drinking water and other health facilities to the affected population in order to prevent the outbreak of diseases.

The committee decided that the database will be developed by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the military officials posted at the airbase.

The database will include the names of the patients, the places from where they have been brought, the hospitals in which they have been shifted and the nature of their injuries. Similarly, a separate database of orphan children and single women would also be maintained.

The meeting was told that all civil hospitals in Rawalpindi and Islamabad were working almost to their full capacity, therefore, it was decided that the Punjab Health Department would be requested to make available more improvised indoor hospitals for shifting patients to the adjacent districts.