PESHAWAR: The health department will launch an appeal of Rs4 billion for construction of hospitals damaged by the recent floods in the province, according to officials.

They said that authorities were busy to wipe out standing water from the hospitals and make them functional in the affected areas.

“The department will make an appeal to the UN agencies and international donor organisations for rebuilding of the health outlets damaged by the recent spell of incessant rains and subsequent floods,” said officials.

They said that the rains and floods caused severe damage to the health facilities, which needed to be rebuilt as soon as possible so that the people could start getting services in the flood-stricken areas.

Health dept to make appeal to UN agencies and international donors

As per report, the flood fully damaged 53 health facilities including 16 civil dispensaries (CDs), 33 basic health units (BHUs) and four rural health centres (RHCs), mostly in Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, Karak and Kohistan Lower and couple of facilities in Swat, Dir, North and South Waziristan.

“The government will require an estimated Rs4 billion to rebuild these outlets so that the patients continue getting services. The department would continue to hold medical camps in the areas where staff is available,” said officials.

They said that a meeting was convened by Health Secretary Amer Sultan Tareen on Wednesday (today) to take stock of the situation and present a consolidated report to the government. In addition to the fully damaged buildings, rainwater also caused partial damage to more than 190 health facilities in some districts.

There are 2,651 public health facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including teaching hospitals, Category A, B and C hospitals, BHUs, RHCs, CDs, mother and child health centres, civil hospitals, sub-health centres, community health centres and leprosy centres where patients receive free services as well as medicines.

However, the week-long rains and floods played havoc with the health facilities in about 19 districts where the department continued to hold free medical camps to cope with the food and water-borne diseases triggered by rains.

The health department has so far provided treatment to more than 180,000 patients including 30 per cent people suffering from acute watery diarrhoea and 25 per cent from skin-related infections.

Officials said that in the first week of the calamity, the department held 110 medical camps, the number of which was then reduced to 30 because the health facilities became operational and the doctors, paramedics, nurses and support staff returned to work.

“The department is still working in collaboration with line departments, such as water and sanitation, public health engineering and tehsil municipal administration to clear standing water from the health facilities and patients start getting services as usual,” they said.

Health department is still engaged in chlorination of water and scaling up public awareness regarding prevention of the diseases caused by contamination of water as the people risk diseases even after stoppage of floods.

“Vaccination has also been started to safeguard children against vaccine-preventable childhood ailments throughout the province with special focus on the flood-hit districts,” said officials. Similarly, they said, people risked dengue fever because of the stagnant water pools left by the floods were the potential breeding sites of mosquitoes, the main source of the dengue fever.

They said that the department was also in contact with Provincial Disaster Management Authority to send essential medical supplies to the far off areas through helicopters and other mode of transportation.

They said that deputy commissioners in all the districts were leading the relief activities with regard to prevention of the disease, the outbreaks of which was feared in the aftermath of floods.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2022