The doctors on duty at the emergency ward for the district headquarters (DHQ) and teaching hospital of DI Khan were pulled in to work at a relief camp this week.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had ordered for camps to be set up for the people fleeing North Waziristan because of the military operation. An estimated 500,000 people have left their homes. DI Khan is one of the districts that is bracing for the influx. It is also one of the sites where government ration camps are supposed to be set up.
On Friday, the director-general of health, Dr Iqbal Afridi, was scheduled to visit a relief camp at the DHQ Hospital, DI Khan. But, according to locals at the site and a doctor from the ward who did not want to be named, the medical superintendent, Dr Karim Shah, called in doctors from the emergency ward, which was then closed for regular patients.
Several attempts were made to contact Dr Shah but he could not be immediately reached.
The DI Khan district government has issued instruction of all non-profit organisations to work for the internally displaced people from North Waziristan through government-established relief centers. All rations, food or other items have to be distributed at the three centres located at Shor Kot, Pahar Pur and Neyawella.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 5th, 2014.
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