Post-flood: Govt prepared to tackle disease outbreak; MPs told

Minister says no reports of disease outbreak reported from anywhere in flood-hit areas

ISLAMABAD: The government prepares to pre-empt a possible outbreak of diseases as monsoon-induced floods swamp villages in South Punjab and Sindh, Health Services Minister Saira Afzal Tarrar told lawmakers in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Tarrar was briefing the house in response to a call attention notice moved by MNA Shaikh Salahuddin over the reported lack of response from the government to the outbreak of various diseases in the flood-ravaged areas of the country.



“We have received no report of outbreak of any disease in the flood-hit areas,” Tarrar told the lawmakers. “Some cases of diarrhea and skin diseases have been reported but the numbers are not alarmingly high,” she said, adding that medicines and technical assistance have been made available in vulnerable areas.

The minister said a cell working in the health services ministry was in contact with the NDMA, PDMAs and provincial governments to provide assistance in the affected areas.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad responded to another calling attention notice moved by Muhammad Jamaluddin and others regarding non-release of development funds to the tribal lawmakers. He told the house that the government had allocated Rs12.5 billion last year for development of remote areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2015.