Three million people are expected to be affected this year by floods in the Punjab, according to a government estimate.
This was stated by Daood Bareach, the special secretary for health, on Friday at a workshop on Health Preparedness and Response Mechanism for 2012 Monsoon and Floods.
The workshop was organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with the Health Department and the National Disaster Management Authority.
Dr Islam Zafar, operations manager for Punjab, said that 16 districts had been declared high risk. 1.4 million people are expected to be affected by floods in Muzaffargarh; 330,000 in DG Khan; 349,580 in Layyah; 350,000 in Mianwali; 26,210 in Bhakkar; 300,000 in Khushab; 326,189 in Jhang; and 809,568 in Gujranwala.
Zafar said that the government had sent a letter to all executive district officers on April 26 for the preparation and submission of a contingency plan.
Bareach said that health risks are exacerbated by inadequate sanitation, compromised safe water supply, food shortages, malnutrition and low levels of immunity. He urged the need to improve coordination among various departments for running primary and secondary health facilities and rehabilitation of damaged health infrastructure.
The government is planning on operating mobile health clinics in areas affected by floods. The main objectives of the workshop were to discuss the contingency plans in high risks districts of the province and to analyse the preparedness of the districts to deal with heavy monsoons.
Executive district officers (health) from various districts gave presentations on An Overview of Monsoon Contingency Planning Scenarios for 2012 and Expected Health Consequences and District- level presentations on Monsoon Contingency Planning.
Dr Shehzad, the Rescue 1122 acting director general; Dr Faisal Amir, the National Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Network director, district emergency officers and representatives of Rescue 1122, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Population Fund also attended the workshop.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2012.
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