Pakistan Doctors Lament Supplies Shortage

Pakistan Doctors Lament Supplies Shortage

Doctors treating victims of Pakistan's flood have complained of a shortage of medical supplies to treat a rising number of patients as victims queued to get medical treatment.

Medical superintendent of Muzaffargarh's main district hospital in Punjab province, Ashiq Hussain Malik, said on Tuesday that the medical team was running out of ‘medical supplies' in the face of rising number of patients to attend to.

He said: ''Whatever stock of medicines we have is about to finish and the number of patients will increase in the coming days…Nearly 60 percent of patients are suffering from gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, skin and eye infections and the patients who are coming here are in a pretty bad condition.''

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

Imminent waterborne diseases

Monsoon floods have receded in some areas but aid agencies fear disease, food shortages and malnutrition may create new crises.

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

Anger at government response

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 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.

Reuters/AyoKoya/Yinka