Sick in Hyderabad and Badin? See a Karachi specialist over the screen

The telemedicine units will use wireless broadband to enable specialists in Karachi to see the patients.

KARACHI: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is going to send telemedicine mobile units to Hyderabad and Thatta, so specialists in Karachi are able to see patients and diagnose them over the internet. 

“This is a pilot project right now,” said the chairman of NDMA, Dr Zafar Iqbal Qadir at the press club on Friday. “The first two vehicles, provided by the Aman Foundation, will be sent to Hyderabad and Thatta.” If the project is successful we will expand it to other areas as well, he added.

Adviser for technology innovation at the NDMA, Abdullah Butt, said that the units will start working from Monday. “The modern biometric devices will transfer the data of patients from the location, using wireless broadband, to a specialist at Dow university.” However, he said, only patients who are not seriously ill can take advantage of this facility.

Qadir said that this year’s flood was not a usual monsoon flood which comes every year. “In July the rainfall on the left bank of Indus River was below than average, but it was more than 1,000% in August.”

He blamed an ineffective irrigation system and land grabbing in drainage channels for the massive damage. “People have built houses on rainwater and drainage channels, blocking the flow which ultimately doubled the damage,” he said. “The drainage system in cities like Badin, Thatta and Hyderabad are not adequate for their populations.”

Qadir said that the biggest challenge was logistic support. “We used boats, camels and donkeys to supply goods to the affected people,” he said.

The agency will start a Disaster Rate Reduction Programme under which people will be taught how to respond to natural disasters. “We are going to form a disaster response force in every district and village to start relief and rescue operations immediately when a disaster hits.”

NDMA will also formulate a National Disaster Management Policy. “The policy should have been formulated early but unfortunately we did not do this before,” Qadir said.

While answering a question he said, “We need a lot more tents than we have. We have distributed around 0.3 million tents but they are not enough.”

Although the water has started to drain from areas in upper Sindh, areas in the south, including Badin and Mirpurkhas remain flooded. Talking about the foreign aid, the NDMA chairman said that $356 million was the estimated required amount. “We have received $21 million and 15 flights carrying relief goods have arrived from different countries.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st,  2011.