Handling the Aftermath

An increasing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are contracting different diseases in the calamity-hit areas of Sindh province. These diseases are mostly caused by contaminated drinking water, malnutrition and ailments linked to stagnant floodwaters.

Here is how some informed individuals share their observations and analysis of the ongoing humanitarian disaster, and the role the Sindh government is or is not playing in mitigating its effects.

Syed Zulfiqar Shah,
Secretary Health, Government of Sindh

A total of 45 doctors have been terminated from service for continued absence from work since the floods broke out. To make up for this, deputy commissioners have been empowered to hire more than 2,500 health officials in their respective districts.

There is no shortage of medical tools, medicines and/or staff etc. The Sindh cabinet has handled the situation efficiently and given special permission to local authorities to acquire tablets, capsules, syrups, injections and other medicines for flood relief purposes on last year’s rates. Hence, a sufficient stock of medicines is available in health facilities.

Dr Pir Manzoor Ali,
General-Secretary Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Sindh

Thousands of people including women and children are down with gastroenteritis, diarrhea, throat infections, typhoid, malaria, dengue, skin and other ailments. They are drinking contaminated water, and they are hungry, with no money in their pockets. One can imagine the pain of those who are watching helplessly as their dear ones end up on death beds.

However, the government’s response has been disappointing. It makes tall claims but does nothing on the ground. It needs to focus on primary healthcare, and ensure availability of clean drinking water by setting up reverse osmosis plants. Supply of medicines alone cannot solve the problem.

Authorities are under-quoting estimates of damages to property and health. Besides, staff of the inundated healthcare facilities still remains absent from duty although they could easily get to work in the nearby makeshift health facilities set up since then.

Also, instead of visiting the calamity hit areas to get first-hand information, top government officials are holding meetings in air-conditioned offices to chalk out faulty policies. Sindh government purchases medicines worth Rs 20 billion each year. If it persuades its suppliers to give just 5 percent of that amount for rehabilitation, it will collect around Rs 1 billion. But no one seems to be pushed about people stuck in floods.

Two organisations that have been receiving healthcare funding from Sindh government, namely a non-governmental organization (NGO), the People’s Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI), and The Indus Hospital and Health Network (IHHN), have also not been playing a proper role in proving medical facilities to the IDPs. The government gives an annual grant of around Rs 6 billion to the PPHI and over Rs 2 billion IHHN.

PMA has set up medical camps in six districts, namely Badin, Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah), Qambar-Shahdadkot, Dadu and Tando Allahyar without any help from either the government or the donor agencies.

Roshan Ali Buriro,
Senior Vice-President, Sindh United Party (SUP)

It looks as if this natural disaster has provided the Sindh government with a chance to stage-manage its own political survival. It orchestrated violence during the first phase of local elections which it then rigged to avoid a certain defeat.

It is also very sad that the national media is not performing their duties sincerely to report the situation in far-flung villages. I am a witness to their absence as I have been travelling in a boat and distributing food among the flood victims of Khairpur Nathan Shah (District Dadu).

There are no proper government-led rescue and relief operations on the ground. Thousands of people, including women and children, either drowned or acquired infections due to contaminated water, malnutrition, various abdominal and renal infections, etc. Thousands of houses have been washed away, while hundreds of families are battling to survive on the rooftops of the houses that have survived. Meanwhile, hundreds of people remain missing.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is providing boats allegedly to the official top brass only so they may enjoy visits to submerged areas, while there are no boats available for victims.

In Khairpur Nathan Shah, which has a population of around 650,000, nearly all medical facilities have been inundated. Now there are no doctors and no paramedics. Big landowners are being given relief goods to distribute among the victims, and they are passing them onto their own favorites and followers.

Mohammad Jumman Bahoto,
Director-General Sindh Health Services

In addition to the health budget, the provincial government has given a special grant worth Rs 740 million to address issues related shortages of medicines, trained staff, medical tools and equipment. By the grace of God, the situation is under control now. We are now embarking on the rehabilitation phase and are in close contact with the federal government to formulate a long-term policy so as to ensure new beds, ultrasound machines and other essential equipment. God forbid, if such a catastrophe hits the region again, we are doing everything to ensure that we are better placed to handle it.

There is an issue of pure drinking water and malnutrition in the affected areas, and we have been advising people to drink boiled water.

As the crisis gradually eases, field hospitals are being set up. The staff of the PPHI and the health department went absent because they were hit by the floods in their areas. They have now moved their families to safe locations and are returning to work.