Muzaffargarh leads in injuries, infections

LAHORE: The Health Department has treated 678,508 patients in 10 flood affected districts for diseases including respiration tract infection (RTI), acute water diarrhoea, and skin, eye and ear infections.

This data refers to services provided between August 1 and August 23.

The most common affliction is skin diseases, with 141,574 suffering from it.

98,003 suffer from RTI, 88,043 from diarrhoea, and 28,884 from eye and ear infections. 12,237 have been injured, 569 have received dog bites, 257 have received snake bites, and 246,050 patients have been diagnosed with other miscellaneous diseases.

The highest number of patients belonged to Muzaffargarh district, where 269,055 were treated. 84,014 were treated in Layyah, 58,589 in Rajanpur, 55,160 in Rahim Yar Khan, 46527 in Mianwali, 27,100 in Sargodha, 26,651 in Mandi Bahauddin, 19,245 in Jhang and 18,497 in Dera Ghazi Khan and Chiniot.

RTI:

Out of the 98,003 RTI patients, 38,030 were from Muzaffargarh, 16,008 from Layyah, 8,346 from Mianwali, 6,093 from Dera Ghazi Khan and Chiniot, 3,833 from Multan, 2,574 from Rajanpur, 2,331 from Khushab and 2,288 from Rahim Yar Khan.

Skin diseases:

Out of the 1,41,574 patients suffering from various skin diseases, the highest number - 47,933 - were from Muzaffargarh, 22,624 from Layyah, 14,739 from Mianwali and 7,110 from Rajanpur.

Diarrhoea:

Out of the 88,043 diarrhoea patients treated, the highest number - 48,873 – were from Muzaffargarh, 4,896 from Multan and 4,796 from Mianwali.

The district of Muzaffargarh ranked the highest in the incidence of other diseases as well. 5,635 of those who had sustained physical injuries belong to the district, 18,725 with eye and ear infections, 145 with dog bites, 58 with snake bites and 76,147 suffering from other diseases.

The Health Department has distributed 167,730 ORS packets, 236,130 water-cleansing tablets and 398,926 bottles of water in the flood affected areas.

Moreover, 59,898 patients have been vaccinated so far, and 893 mobile teams and 845 stationed teams have been dispatched to the affected areas.

According to the report, 3,132 villages in 10 districts and 8.2 million people have been affected.

In terms of material damage, 3.5 million acres of crops have been destroyed, and over 0.6 million houses damaged. So far, the death toll from disease is 103 persons.

The government has established 385 relief camps that are currently providing shelter to 250,135 flood victims.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2010.