Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Dec 22 2005 (IPS) – Doctors, nurses and other medical personnel are urgently needed to help prevent outbreaks of epidemics in quake-hit areas of Pakistan, warns the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The international community should take steps now to provide the expertise, WHO Operations Medical Officer Dr Saeed Akbar Khan told IPS. Insufficient human resources are a big problem, which needs to be looked into immediately.
The Oct. 8 earthquake killed about 80,000 people, wounded over 100,000 and left another three million in the mountainous region at risk of starvation. Almost three million people have been displaced and all survivors are at danger from the extreme winter cold.
Eighty per cent of the area s health centres were ruined in the quake, which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, while the remainder need doctors, nurses and paramedics, added Khan.
Maternal health has been hard hit, pointed out an official from the Pakistan Medical Association, because apart from the destruction of health facilities, most traditional birth attendants had either died or migrated to safer places.
In every population, three per cent of the women remain pregnant, and need the services of doctors and nurses to give them pre and post-natal care, said PMA Secretary General Shershah Syed, a gynaecologist.
His association has called for a restructuring of the remaining infrastructure in quake-hit areas to provide consistent medical relief to survivors. For this purpose, the government must allocate a certain amount from the president s relief fund to hire doctors, paramedics and nurses, added Syed in an interview.
Soon after the quake hit, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf established the relief fund, which has so far raised about nine million U.S. dollars.
According to the plan, the government should immediately appoint 300 doctors along with 1,000 paramedics and nurses to cater to the medical needs of the quake survivors on a permanent basis, Syed added after visiting quake-hit areas with other doctors and relief workers. He termed the health infrastructure as in a shambles .
Two health facilities are immediately needed, according to the PMA chief, equipped with CAT and MRI scanners along with well-stocked ICUs.
The WHO s Khan said the body has proposed to the government that it establish a disease early warning system (DEWS) in the affected areas with a view to checking the spread of epidemics.
Both the WHO and the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) have dismissed reports of disease outbreaks in recent weeks as rumours but all the experts IPS spoke to emphasised that the risk of such occurrences remains extremely high.
As part of the warning system, the WHO would also impart training to health professionals àonce the training is complete, the doctors would be able to recognise outbreaks , added Khan.
He said the agency has already issued guidelines to district health officers on the diagnosis and management of tetanus, diphtheria, meningitis and diarrhoea.
The WHO is concerned about the cold, overcrowded conditions in the quake-hit areas which, it fears, could lead to a surge in the number of tuberculosis patients.
We had over 40,000 registered TB patients in the quake-hit areas before the tragedy struck, one official said, adding, winter itself is the key factor behind the rise in the number of TB cases .
People desperately need winterised tents to avoid freezing, said the official.
The UN is seeking 45 million dollars urgently to keep warm 1.9 million earthquake survivors who live below the snowline of 5,000 ft. The money would purchase 2.4 million quilts and 1.2 million blankets.
UNICEF has distributed 150,000 pieces of warm clothing but warns that 10,000 children could face death due to the severe cold.
The Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA) is also warning of outbreaks of epidemics among children in quake-hit areas, said Dr Abdul Hameed of the PPA.
Children, who make up 50 per cent of the population, are at risk of getting pneumonia, encephalitis (a brain infection), chest infections, diphtheria, meningitis and water and airborne infections because low temperatures weaken their immune systems, he added.
Unhygienic conditions and overcrowding in tents pose threat of epidemics, Hameed said, with children also at risk of developing tetanus, dysentery and diarrhoea.
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