PESHAWAR, Dec 31: Children in the quake-ravaged areas are living on a razor’s edge and can face serious health problems if timely measures are not taken, said Dr Abdus Samad, chief executive of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).

Speaking at the concluding session of the four-day workshop at the Therapeutic Feeding Centre (TFC) on Saturday, he urged steps for the rehabilitation of the children in quake-hit areas of the province.

About 40 nurses, paramedics and health workers from the quake-hit districts of the province attended the workshop.

Dr Samad informed the gathering that the Ministry of Health, Islamabad, in collaboration with Unicef, had established four centres to provide medical assistance to the children from the quake-hit areas of the NWFP and Kashmir.

These centres operated round-the-clock for the rehabilitation of the children.

According to him, they were imparting training to health professionals from the affected areas with a view to enabling them to provide medical assistance to thousands of children there.

He said that 80 per cent of the affected population comprised women and children and such training was of paramount importance to help the most vulnerable section of the stricken population.

He said health workers in the quake-hit areas required training to diagnose child diseases and provide them prompt health care facilities. Most children suffered from malnutrition, diarrhoea and dehydration, who needed proper nutrition.

To ensure correct management of such children, he said nurses and paramedics needed to be trained in maintenance of intravenous line, so that sick children could be given fluids.

Paediatrician Asmat Ara was of the view that it was the responsibility of both the people and the government to extend cooperation to the children of the quake-hit areas. She said that the participants of the workshop would be performing duties in the quake zone.

“It is our duty to help the sick children, because they are future’s builders of our country,” she said.

Unicef’s representative Dr Shakila Zaman said that her organization was aggressively working to provide protection to surviving children against epidemics.

The trained staff would be posted in the quake-hit areas, she added.

Dr Poonam said that children of the quake zone needed special attention because the devastating earthquake had shattered their families. They had lost parents and other near and dear ones, due to which they were facing mental depression.

The mental depression and trauma, she said, could be treated through drugs but the soft attitude of healthcare providers could make a real difference.

Dr Fayyaz Ali, deputy director health department, said that more such workshops had been planned to help the children.