KARACHI: More than 100,000 children have been treated free of cost at the children’s Emergency Rooms (ERs) of government teaching hospitals in flood-hit locations. The ERs have remained operational 24/7 despite torrential rains and flooding in calamity-hit districts of Sindh. They provide quality emergency care as well as dispense life-saving medicines to flood-affected children.

The ERs are managed by ChildLife Foundation under the Sindh government’s long-standing public private partnership with the organization. It has strengthened the public health system in the province by upgrading the children’s ERs so they meet international standards of care.

More than 400 healthcare and management professionals are at the helm of the ERs in flood-affected areas, where timely medical care is given to children being brought in with complaints of water-borne diseases such as gastroenteritis, malaria, cholera, dengue, typhoid, pneumonia and skin infections.

“The floods have given rise to an alarming public health situation and have put children at extreme risk of disease and death. The children’s ERs in flood-affected cities of Larkana, Sukkur, Nawabshah, and Hyderabad are receiving double the regular volume of patients daily. It is a challenging time, but government support has ensured the delivery of emergency treatment to flood-affected children without a break or pause,” says Dr Ahson Rabbani, CEO of ChildLife Foundation.

The Sindh government’s support has also facilitated telehealth consultations for children in remote rural areas through a telemedicine network. It connects all district hospitals of Sindh to Karachi’s Civil Hospital where child specialists assess patients through HD camera and IP phone and provide them with expert consultations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022