Cell sets up to oversee health relief operations: flood-hit areas of Sindh and Balochistan

A National Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Cell has been established in the Ministry of Health to oversee health relief operations in the flood-affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan.
The cell will be fully operational and work round the clock to co-ordinate with the health sector stakeholders for an effective and efficient response to the emergency. The ministry has directed all federal hospitals to form medical teams comprising male and female physicians, a surgeon, nurse, a dispenser and one ward assistant.
These teams will look after health needs of flood-affected people and will locate at the camps established by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). A meeting was held in this regard on Monday to review the situation of affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan presided by the Minister for Health Muhammad Nasir Khan.
The minister informed the meeting that nine consignments of medicines and other medical equipment had been dispatched to the affected areas. Each consignment comprises antibiotics, pain killers, surgical disposable etc, and is sufficient to cater to the medical requirements of 10,000 persons for three months.
He added more consignments would be sent to Sindh and Balochistan to provide medical cover to the people of the affected areas. He said emergency relief teams with stock of emergency medicines, including anti-snake venom, chlorine tablets, ORS, intravenous fluid and antibiotics had also been dispatched to flood affected areas.
He said that 500,000 chlorine tablets had already been provided to health teams deployed in Karachi. These tablets were being distributed among flood victims for water purification.
Nasir Khan said every possible medical assistance would be provided by the Ministry to the affected people of Sindh and Balochistan. He added the ministry was fully alive to support the victims. Later, a meeting of National Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Cell was held with Secretary Health Khushnood Akhtar Lashari in the chair.
Representatives of WHO, Unicef, Red Crescent Society and other agencies involved in health emergency assistance attended the meeting. Lashari emphasised on sharing information about the stockpiles of available medicines. It was decided that Executive Director Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Dr Fazle Hadi would be the focal person for health response.