The health department will launch an appeal of Rs4 billion for construction of hospitals damaged by the recent floods in the province, according to officials.
They said that authorities were busy to wipe out standing water from the hospitals and make them functional in the affected areas.
“The department will make an appeal to the UN agencies and international donor organisations for rebuilding of the health outlets damaged by the recent spell of incessant rains and subsequent floods,” said officials.
They said that the rains and floods caused severe damage to the health facilities, which needed to be rebuilt as soon as possible so that the people could start getting services in the flood-stricken areas.
As per report, the flood fully damaged 53 health facilities including 16 civil dispensaries (CDs), 33 basic health units (BHUs) and four rural health centres (RHCs), mostly in Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, Karak and Kohistan Lower and couple of facilities in Swat, Dir, North and South Waziristan.
“The government will require an estimated Rs4 billion to rebuild these outlets so that the patients continue getting services. The department would continue to hold medical camps in the areas where staff is available,” said officials.
They said that a meeting was convened by Health Secretary Amer Sultan Tareen on Wednesday (today) to take stock of the situation and present a consolidated report to the government. In addition to the fully damaged buildings, rainwater also caused partial damage to more than 190 health facilities in some districts.
There are 2,651 public health facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including teaching hospitals, Category A, B and C hospitals, BHUs, RHCs, CDs, mother and child health centres, civil hospitals, sub-health centres, community health centres and leprosy centres where patients receive free services as well as medicines.
However, the week-long rains and floods played havoc with the health facilities in about 19 districts where the department continued to hold free medical camps to cope with the food and water-borne diseases triggered by rains.
The health department has so far provided treatment to more than 180,000 patients including 30 per cent people suffering from acute watery diarrhoea and 25 per cent from skin-related infections.
