ISLAMABAD: Medical experts warn that Pakistan is experiencing a crisis inside a crisis as infections spread quickly and fatalities rise as a result of widespread floods. This crisis is made worse by the nation's inadequate emergency preparation and weak health system.
With hundreds of kilometers of flooded regions that have become breeding grounds for malaria, dengue fever, and diarrhea, hundreds of thousands of displaced people are forced to live in the open and must drink contaminated water.
At least 342 people have died from illnesses in Sindh, the province most severely affected by the floods, and more than 3.3 million infections have been reported since July 1, according to state data. There have been 4.4 million illness cases recorded across the country. At least 1,678 people have died as a result of the floods, which was brought on by unprecedented monsoon rains and glacier melt, both of which scientists attribute to climate change.
The country's health system may be more at risk from sickness, according to Zafar Mirza, who left his positions as the country's de facto health minister and special assistant to the prime minister in 2020.
Mirza, who is currently a professor of health at Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University in Islamabad, continued, "It can kill more people than those who lost their lives in the flood."
Mirza said that Pakistan has "a well-thought-out strategy to deal with them," adding that the nation's officials are ill-equipped to address health hazards resulting from increasing climate-related disasters like the flooding.
According to both health professionals and state authorities, diseases are rife in areas like southeast Sindh because medical services have been hampered by the floods and the cash-strapped government is having trouble reaching those in need.
Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan's planning minister, stated last week that "we worry it" (the spread of illnesses) "may go out of hand." The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued warnings about the possibility of "a second calamity, a wave of sickness and death."
illness and despondency
According to Qasim Soomro, Sindh's parliamentary secretary for health, the government is trying to make sure that flood-affected individuals receive medical care and working to halt the spread of infections, despite the fact that obtaining access is challenging.
At least 600 mobile teams have already been sent, according to him, and are now being sent to locations where the water is retreating or has already subsided. The congressman said, "However, it is challenging for the teams to access and help individuals in areas still under water."
According to the provincial health department, more than 1,000 medical institutions in Sindh have suffered partial or total damage from floods. According to Mirza Ali Azhar, a former general secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association, people living in remote rural areas of Sindh lack access to safe drinking water and medical care (PMA).
The number of instances is significantly larger than (what is) being reported, and the sickness is spreading at a huge and unthinkable rate, according to Azhar. He noted that even the physicians attending to patients in the frontline medical camps are only able to work for a few hours each day since they must travel back to cities at night because they have nowhere to remain in the flood-affected areas.
The ailing people are not receiving the ongoing medical attention they need, according to Azhar. He urged the administration to improve the health system in disaster-prone areas going forward.
By offering emergency access to safe drinking water, several tech start-ups and nonprofit organizations are attempting to help stop the spread of illness.According to one startup, PakVitae, 15,000 small-scale water purifiers have already been given to flood-affected areas, including Sindh.
Shayan Sohail, the founder and chief operating officer of the firm, stated by phone, "We are hoping to give a total of 100,000 units to flood-affected households by the end of October, since we have enough donations to reach the objective."
Demand a crisis plan
According to Mirza, there was a lack of coordination between various government agencies and departments as well as within the healthcare system itself, which negatively impacted Pakistan's reaction to the flooding and subsequent illness epidemics.
According to Mirza and Azhar, other obstacles include a lack of funding, medical personnel, and rules and methods for rapidly mobilizing and deploying health professionals in times of emergency.
Mirza stated that "we must create a national health emergency preparedness strategy."
Post a Comment