A total of 12 foreign medical teams are providing medical care to the flood affected people across the country, said data released by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) here on Thursday.
According to the data, Turkey has set up two field hospitals each in Khairpur and Dera Murad Jamali districts consisting of 21 members, whereas Saudi Arabia has two medical camps each in district Rajanpur and Thatta consisting of 70 members and another 18 members medical team of Saudi Arabia is working in District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Nowshera.
Saudi Arabia's medical teams is the largest among all the foreign medical missions as it has sent a total 158 medical members to serve the Pakistani brethrens in the hour of needs. Australia has set up field hospital in district Kot Addu where 72 members of its medical mission are providing the flood affected people with medical care, 42 members of Bangladeshi medical team is serving the masses in district Hyderabad, while China has set field hospital in district Thatta with 38 team members.
Other countries providing medical assistance to flood affectees are Sri Lanka and Jordan in Multan, Palestine in Dera Ismail Khan and Nowshera districts, Spain in Sukhar and Italy in Dera Ismail Khan. NDMA said that so far 17.62 million people have been affected by the devastating floods out of which 2.99 million are children below five years of which 0.52 million needs immediate treatment.
As per NDMA estimates 1.76 million flood affectees are suffering from Acute Watery Diahrrea (AWD), 0.17 million from cholera and 2.64 million from malaria from north to south of the country. The large number of the flood affected people is in Punjab 8.2 million, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 4.36 million, Sindh 3.74 million and Balochistan 1.06 million.
In Punjab 1.3 million children below five years are affected by the floods, in Sindh 0.63 million, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 0.74 million, whereas in Balochistan 0.18 million. So far different health agencies have projected 1.2 million Malaria cases in Punjab, 0.654 million in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 0.56 million in Sindh and 0.15 million in Balochistan. High flood situation is expected in downstream Kotri, Southern Sindh for the next seven days.
According to NDMA Indian dams upstream in river Ravi and Sutlej are nearly filled to capacity, therefore, in case of surplus release of water from India there are chances of flooding in the low lying areas along the rivers and inhabitants in the riverbed may be in danger during the coming days.
As per Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Weather Outlook, scattered rains are expected till September 10, there is no likelihood of a strong monsoon system in September 2010, it added. The approximate cost of damage sustained by Pepco is Rs 10.00 billion and Wapda Hydel projects are Rs 3 billion. The leading affected companies are Pesco, Mepco, Hesco and Quesco.