Despite official reassurances of a smooth relief operation, a grim reality lurks in Punjab’s flood-stricken districts, where health issues are escalating given outbreak of flood-related diseases.
While provincial authorities highlight rescue figures and medical camps, evidence from the ground shows overwhelmed health units, shortage of medicines, and citizens left to fend for themselves in disease-ridden waters.
Doctors and aid workers say patients suffering from diarrhoea, skin infections, and dengue often wait for hours, sometimes days, for proper treatment. In some camps, anti-malarial drugs and rabies vaccines have reportedly run out, leaving residents vulnerable.
“We are treating dozens of patients in tents without enough supplies. Official tallies don’t match the situation here,” said a health worker in Narowal, requesting anonymity.
Continous floods since late August have displaced over two million people in Punjab, submerged 2,000 villages and washed away vast farmland. Thousands of acres of rice, cotton, and sugarcane have been destroyed, further compounding food insecurity.
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The provincial government claims to have rescued nearly 1.9 million people, set up more than 1,000 relief camps, and deployed mobile health units. But reports from the field indicate that many villages remain cut off, with relief measures reaching them only sporadically.
In Hafizabad and Kasur, locals complain they have received no consistent supply of clean water or medical assistance.
Health records show more than 15,400 cases of dengue, diarrhoea, malaria, and skin diseases were detected across Punjab in the past month.
Lahore alone reported over 9,000 patients in the past 24 hours. According to the Punjab Health Department, since January the province has logged 310 dengue cases, 79 of them in Lahore. The crisis extends beyond vector-borne diseases - 99 snakebites and 167 dog-bite cases have also been reported.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of “grave risks” of epidemic outbreaks, stressing the urgent need for clean water, sanitation, and an uninterrupted supply of medicines. Aid groups confirm that conditions in several camps remain unsanitary, with stagnant floodwater breeding mosquitoes and raising the likelihood of cholera and dysentery.
Read More: Worst monsoon floods in decades leave millions displaced in Pakistan
Yet, Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Imran Nazir insists the government is prepared. He said medical teams are on 24-hour alert, “Clinics on Wheels” are running, and all districts have been instructed to stock emergency medicines. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif is personally supervising the relief operations, with army units mobilised in multiple districts, says the provincial government.
Critics contend that the response remains more reactive than preventive. “The state knew heavy rains were coming, but flood defences and public health systems were not strengthened in time,” said an environmental analyst in Lahore. “Now we are watching avoidable diseases spread while officials scramble for damage control.”
Experts also point to climate change as a worsening factor. Punjab has received 26% more rainfall this monsoon season compared to last year, according to the Meteorological Department, exposing weaknesses in infrastructure and planning.
As waters stagnate and the health issues prevail, the question is whether relief operations can keep pace with the scale of the crisis. For now, officials promise that “no patient will be left untreated,” but survivor testimonies from flood zones across Punjab tell a far more unsettling story of a public health disaster brewing beneath the surface.
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