After touring a local hospital here that includes an important medical facility operated by International Medical Corps to treat flood victims, Pakistan’s Minister of Health praised the operation.
Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin visited a diarrhea treatment center set up by International Medical Corps at the District Headquarters Hospital in Nowshera, in flood-stricken Pakistan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He was accompanied on the tour by a team from the World Health Organization (WHO), which is working with International Medical Corps at the treatment center.
Acute watery diarrhea has reached near-epidemic proportions as the flood waters gradually begin to recede in northwestern Pakistan and flood survivors are exposed to contaminated drinking water. The disease causes severe hydration and can lead to death if not adequately treated.
“We are happy with the arrangements and the health care facilities being provided to the flood survivors at the hospital”, said Shahabuddin in comments to media representatives following the tour.
In addition to the treatment center in Nowshera, International Medical Corps operates two other diarrhea treatment centers in the city of Mardan, about 20 miles to the north, and 26 mobile health teams providing emergency relief and primary health care in five of the hardest- hit districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
Argentina’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Rodolfo J. Martin-Saravia, who was also with the group of dignitaries visiting Nowshera, used the occasion to present Shahabuddin with a shipment of water purification tablets for the flood-affected people.