PESHAWAR: Health department has recorded 334 deaths and 329 injured persons in flood-affected districts as the number of patients suffering from communicable diseases rose to 822, including 442 during the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, a health cluster coordination meeting held here on Monday with Dr Shahid Yunis, the director-general health services Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the chair pledged to coordinate response in the areas devastated by floods. The meeting attended by all partner organisations was updated on their ongoing support in the affected areas of Buner, Swat, Shangla, Battagram, Abbottabad and Bajaur.

Dr Shahid emphasised the importance of timely coordination with the designated sections of the department to avoid duplication of efforts and ensure efficient delivery of health services. He called for a unified approach to streamline resources and strengthen field-level interventions.

The meeting concluded with a renewed commitment by all stakeholders to support the efforts of health department under the leadership of Dr Shahid Yunis, whose proactive engagement and strategic direction were widely appreciated by participants.

Meeting held to coordinate response to floods and avoid duplication of activities

The meeting was told that in coordination with international partners, including World Health Organisation (WHO), Unicef, and International Medical Corps, emergency medical consignments were sent to Buner and Shangla. The supplies include painkillers, fever and infection medications, antibiotics, vaccines, IV solutions, ORS, sanitation kits and diagnostic tools.

Dr Inamullah Khan, Health Team Lead Unicef Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, handed over medicines to the director-general health for the emergency response. These medicines will cover the needs of 10,000 people for three months in flood-affected areas of the province.

A report compiled by Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System (IDSRS) of the public health section at directorate-general health services (DGHS), said that flash floods had also damaged 46 health facilities including 42 partially and four fully damaged.

The department has established 289 medical camps where 7,447 patients have been examined. Most of the patients seen at the camps had acute watery diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection while few cases of scabies were also recorded.

The adviser to chief minister on health, Ihtisham Ali, also directed the department to intensify emergency medical response in flood-affected districts, deploying medical teams and dispatching essential supplies.

He said that medical teams from Khyber Teaching Hospital and Bacha Khan Medical Complex, Swabi, were actively engaged in field operations, running medical camps in severely impacted areas.

Additionally, trucks loaded with medicines and medical equipment have been dispatched from Hayat Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital to support relief efforts. Mr Ali said that International Medical Corps donated medicines worth Rs2 million to the government that were handed over to Health Secretary Shahidullah Khan.

In Gadroon, Swabi, a cloudburst prompted a swift response, with instructions issued to district health officer (DHO) to manage the situation.

Speaking to media, Mr Ali confirmed that alerts were issued across all districts and disease surveillance was activated under the IDSRS. He said that health department continued to monitor the situation closely and he was personally overseeing operations from the control room.

Officials, meanwhile, expressed hope that the meeting with partner organisations had discussed all aspects of the calamity and each partner would play role in accordance with its expertise. People will be provided with clean drinking water to prevent the outbreak of food and water-borne diseases in addition to putting in place measures to ensure provision of timely services to mothers and children.

There will be complete coordination to help people in all districts through provision of healthcare facilities and the department has pledged to reconstruct the facilities damaged by the flood so that people can get unhindered services.

Officials said that health department instructed its staff to scale up public awareness to visit medical camps and hospitals in case of health issues to prevent outbreak of diseases.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2025