Black coats and white coats unite

KARACHI: Lawyers and doctors have joined hands to provide medical relief to flood survivors across the country by taking advantage of their networks and expertise.

On Thursday, Aitzaz Ahsan, the former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan, called upon bar associations across the country to assist doctors from the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) in helping the people who have been affected by the floods.

“While the doctors are trying to reach the remotest of areas, they have no place to set up camp or store medicines.

It is time for the lawyers to assist them in this noble cause and work for their people in the field,” he said at a press conference at PMA house.

Bar associations exist across the country and their buildings are intact even in the areas where other buildings have been completely destroyed, said Ahsan. “There is a katchehri in every district and tehsil of Pakistan. It can provide immense help to the doctors in this time of need,” he said.

He proposed that the lawyers should assist the PMA in expanding its existing network of medical camps. They should also help mobilise, equip and rehabilitate local doctors in the affected areas, he added.

It is time, once again, for the lawyers to take a stand for the people, said Ahsan, adding that the country needs “a platform where all lawyers and doctors come together as one”.

For this purpose, a joint bank account has been created in the PMA’s name.

This new alliance will focus on two medical aspects, said PMA president-elect Dr Tipu Sultan. Under preventive measures, clean water and sanitation will be provided to the people while the curative efforts involve treating skin, eye, ear and throat infections and diseases.

While the PMA has no shortage of medicines, Sultan said that pharmaceutical companies have also donated generously to the cause. A fleet of ambulances and vans are also available round the clock to send any number of goods anywhere across the country. However, the association lacks volunteers, said Sultan.

When a team of doctors reached Makli, it was very difficult to handle the public, he told The Express Tribune. ‘We got robbed once. It was then that we came up with the strategy of asking the locals for help in distributing relief goods,” he said.

Water purification remains on the top of the preventive efforts that are being taken in the flood-hit areas, said Sultan.

The association installed a water purifier and also hired people to purify water with chlorine tablets. It also set up tube-wells and advised people to bathe and clean their living places with brooms to prevent the spread of diseases.

“We may not be able to control the adverse effects of floods completely but we will put a dent in it,” Sultan said.

Among other challenges being faced by the association, the health of babies and young children remains a grave concern.

“If a woman is pregnant and has a low haemoglobin count, it is not because of the flood. Similarly, if a woman is a feeding mother, their babies are not getting enough nutrition as the mothers are starving and cannot feed the babies,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2010.