Pakistan’s flood victims frustrated with medical care

Victims of Pakistan’s floods queued to get medical treatment today as doctors complained of a shortage of medical supplies to treat a rising number of patients.

Monsoon floods have receded in some areas but aid agencies fear disease, food shortages and malnutrition may create new crises as people head back to their shattered towns and villages and try to rebuild their homes and lives.

“Whatever stock of medicines we have is about to finish and the number of patients will increase in the coming days,” said Ashiq Hussain Malik, medical superintendent of Muzaffargarh’s main district hospital in Punjab province.

A flood victim fills a traditional clay water container from a broken pipeline submerged in flood waters in Shikarpur, in Pakistan’s Sindh province, today, August 31, 2010.





“Nearly 60 per cent of patients are suffering from gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, skin and eye infections and the patients who are coming here are in a pretty bad condition.”

The United Nations has warned of imminent waterborne diseases, including typhoid fever, shigellosis and hepatitis A and E, and vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever.

The floods have left one-fifth of the country under water, an area the size of Italy. Some Pakistanis have grown increasingly angry with the sluggish government response, and are turning to Islamist charities, some of them tied to militant groups.

The floods have killed more than 1,600 people and left at least 6 million homeless.

Muzaffargarh hospital is treating 1,000 flood victims and that number is likely to rise. People lay on the floor or were using their own rope beds because of a lack of space.

“I came to hospital around dawn and I’m still waiting for my number,” Naseem Bibi said as her five-year-old daughter, suffering from diarrhoea, slept on the ground.

“Only those people who have acquaintances in the hospital are getting medical treatment. No one is looking after poor people like us.”

The government is faced with the daunting task of securing enough aid for relief operations, meeting the needs of people who will want compensation for destroyed homes and livestock, and blunting long-term economic pain.

“The flooding significantly raises near-term growth and inflation risks and most probably postpones any near-term opportunity for transitioning back to the country’s growth trend with manageable inflation and macroeconomic balance,” said Moody’s Investors Service.