Preemptive measures: Govt huddles to prepare monsoon contingency plan

Relevant organisations, departments attend health ministry’s meeting on monsoon.


Mariam Shafqat June 04, 2015
Monsoon rain in Punjab. PHOTO: QAZI USMAN/FILE

ISLAMABAD: Pharmaceutical companies have been asked to ensure provision of first-aid kits within the next 15 days to the National Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (NHEPRN) Department before the onset of monsoon rains.  

The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC) held a meeting on Tuesday with representatives of a number of organisations such as the association of pharmaceutical companies, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Unicef, Pakistan Red Crescent Society, Rescue-1122, National Disaster Management Authority and the directors general health from all the provinces.

The meeting was called to streamline all relevant public and private-sector organisations for the ministry’s monsoon contingency plan this year.

NHSRC Minister of State Saira Afzal Tarar, who chaired the meeting, strictly directed the pharmaceutical companies to prepare first-aid kits within the next 15 days.

NHEPRN Director General Dr Munir Ahmed Mangrio told The Express Tribune that the main agenda of the meeting was to take all public and private-sector institutions onboard and clearly identify roles and responsibilities of these authorities in case of an extreme weather event.

He said the ministry had also asked participants of the meeting to assess their roles, identify gaps and present a more effective coordination plan.

Mangrio said the exercise was done to avoid overlapping of responsibilities and smart usage of available infrastructure.

He said there had been cases of two organisations simultaneously working on similar lines, while ignoring a particular aspect that needed more attention.

“This meeting is the first of its kind since our agenda is to avoid asking for help from the international community in-case of a calamity and make use of the resources we have effectively,” Dr Mangrio said.

NHEPRN Deputy Director Dr Sabeen Durrani said the minister had given orders for repositioning of medical staff and realigning human resources at the national and provincial levels.

She added that in-case of an emergency, NHEPRN took into account “case load” that was the number of persons affected in a given area, and acted accordingly. She said that normally 50 per cent of the responsibility lied with the federal government in case of any calamity.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2015.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ