ISLAMABAD, Sep 20(ABC): The government has sought across-the-board medical assistance as the cataclysmic floods have wreaked havoc and crumbled the country’s health system, leaving people vulnerable to deadly diseases.
The death toll from the deluge has touched 1,559, including 551 children and 318 women, which does not include the deaths from the diseases contracted from the floods, the National Disaster Management Authority’s (NDMA) latest report showed.
“The people [suffering from floods] are now looking towards the 2/3 of the population which has not been affected,” Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal told a press conference alongside military officials on Tuesday.
The minister appealed to doctors to set up medical camps wherever possible for the flood-hit people and also called on the unaffected population to donate generously for rehabilitation work.
Iqbal appealed to the health sector to ensure they help the government as outbreaks of diseases were being witnessed in several areas and are expected to increase.
Record monsoon rains and glacial melt in northern Pakistan triggered the flooding that has impacted nearly 33 million people in the South Asian nation of 220 million, sweeping away homes, crops, bridges, roads and livestock in damages estimated at $30 billion.
The country received 391 mm (15.4 inches) of rain, or some 190% more than the 30-year average through July and August, a monsoon spell that started early and stretched beyond the usual timeline. Rainfall in the southern province of Sindh shot up to 466% of the average.
