QUETTA: Balochistan Health Minister Syed Ehsan Shah on Saturday said that all available resources were being utilized to provide medical facilities to the flood affectees in Balochistan.
He expressed these views during a visit to the medical camp organized for flood victims at Tiara under the supervision of DHO and district administration Lasbela. The minister also issued instructions to the health department of Lasbela on an emergency basis to provide essential items including medicines to the rain affected people in the area.
Ehsan said that it was beyond man’s power to prevent natural disasters, but providing immediate medical facilities to the people after the disaster and saving their lives was their Primary responsibility. The basic responsibility of the doctors and those associated with the medical profession was to provide immediate medical care to the affected people, he said, adding that no negligence would be tolerated in that regard.
District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Qamarul Haq Ronjho briefed the minister that on the orders of Deputy Commissioner Lasbela and the Secretary Health, the district health department had prepared a health plan in advance, before the recent monsoon rains. He said that they made a rapid response under the health plan, adding that the health teams had been alerted, and medical camps had also been set up in the affected areas.
The DHO said that urgent measures had been initiated after the recent monsoon rains in Lasbella where cases of skin-related diseases were reported. The competent authorities of the health department, UNICEF and WHO, had also been contacted for medicines and other needs to protect against cholera and skin diseases. The victims were mostly women, children and the elderly, he said.