ISLAMABAD: Pakistan officials raised concern Wednesday over the spread of waterborne
diseases among thousands of flood victims as waters from powerful monsoon rains began to recede in
many parts of the country.
Massive flooding from the rains since mid-June has killed at least 1,162 people, a phenomenon experts
blame on climate change. Floods also damaged 888 health facilities across Pakistan, according to the
World Health Organization. Because of that, access to health facilities, health care workers, essential
medicine and medical supplies remains the main health challenge for now.
Some doctors said initially they were seeing mostly patients traumatized by the flooding, but are now
treating people suffering from diarrhea, skin infections and other waterborne ailments in the country’s
flood-hit areas.
The development has forced the government to deploy additional medical teams and dispatch medicine
besides providing clean drinking water to survivors, many of whom are living in tents and makeshift
homes.
The warning came a day after record-breaking floods prompted the United Nations to formally issue an
appeal for $160 million in emergency funding to the impoverished Islamic nation, where about a million
homes have been damaged or destroyed.
Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, health minister in the country’s worst-affected province of Sindh, said officials
have set up 4,210 medical camps in the province’s flood-hit areas to treat victims now suffering from skin
and waterborne diseases, which are common during floods.
The WHO began aiding Pakistani authorities in their efforts to treat people injured in the rains and
flooding. The agency said in a statement it was working to increase surveillance for acute diarrhea,
cholera and other communicable diseases to avoid their spreading further, and is also providing medicine
and medical supplies to health facilities.
“WHO is working with health authorities to respond quickly and effectively on the ground,” said Dr.
Palitha Mahipala, the WHO representative in Pakistan. “Our key priorities now are to ensure rapid access
to essential health services to the flood-affected population, (to) strengthen and expand disease
surveillance, outbreak prevention and control, and ensure robust health cluster coordination.”
Authorities said waterborne diseases among flood victims are now common across the country.
“Initially we received injured people, but now diarrhea is common,” said Farhad Khan, a physician in
charge of a medical camp set up in the northwestern town of Charsadda. It is one of the worst flood-hit
districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, where floods killed 257 people since
mid-June.
Pakistani authorities backed by the military, rescuers and volunteers, have struggled to evacuate marooned
people to safer places. On Wednesday, military helicopters continued evacuating flood victims and
delivering food to remote regions, according to a statement released by the military. It said it has deployed
at least 6,500 troops to assist in rescue and relief operations.
Rescuers were also using boats to evacuate stranded people in southern Sindh province and in remote
villages in eastern Punjab province, according to government officials.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in a visit to the flood-hit Swat Valley promised the rehabilitation of every
person displaced by the flood. In his televised comments, Shahbaz thanked U.N. Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres for responding to Pakistan’s request and issuing an appeal for $160 million in
emergency funding to help flood victims. Guterres on Tuesday urged the world: “Let’s stop sleepwalking
toward the destruction of our planet by climate change.”
Sharif’s visit comes days after a raging Swat River destroyed the iconic New Honeymoon Hotel in the
northwestern tourist resort of Kalam. There were no casualties as tourists and staff left the hotel
following government evacuation instructions, and residents in Kalam said many streets there were still
flooded.