Nearly 1,200 medical camps to be set up in flood-hit areas: Qadir Patel
ISLAMABAD: Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel on Sunday announced the setting up of 1,200 medical camps across the country in flood-hit areas as victims are now battling water-borne diseases in the affected areas, ARY NEWS reported.
In a statement issued today, the minister said that 1,200 health camps across the country will provide basic health facilities to the affected in addition to medicines and vaccinations. "We will provide medicines for skin diseases, eye infections and diarrhoea," said Qadir Patel.
As many as 400 medical camps will also be set up in eight districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar and Tank, 300 camps will be set up in six districts of Balochistan and 95 camps in Karachi.
The World Health Organization has expressed concern about the spread of water-borne diseases among flood victims. Almost half a million people displaced by the floods live in relief camps
According to the UN Population Fund, 6.4 million flood victims need humanitarian assistance. It said about 650,000 pregnant women in flood-affected areas, including 73,000 who will give birth in the next month, need maternal health care.
Sindh health officials have also raised concerns about outbreaks of water-borne diseases in areas hit by recent record floods.
According to a report released by the Sindh Health Department, diarrhea, skin diseases and eye infections are spreading in relief camps set up by the government across the province.
More than 134,000 cases of diarrhea have been reported from Sindh in the past two months, according to a report released by health officials on Saturday.
Similarly, 44,832 cases of malaria have been detected since June this year during the monsoon rains, official statistics show. She added that 101 cases of snakebite were also reported.