Pakistan: Update of activities

The volatile situation in the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan continues to cause rising number of displacements each day.

So far 27 camps, in six different districts, have been set up to give temporary shelter for people fleeing the violence. Still, there are many people remaining in the areas of conflict, trapped due to insecurity and strict curfews, hindering people from leaving their homes and giving them limited access to food, water and the possibility to seek emergency medical care.

In the midst of the intensified conflict which started in mid-April, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was forced to stop all emergency medical care in the district of Swat in the North West Frontier Province. MSF was the only organisation supporting the hospital in Mingora and provided ambulance services in that region. The people are left without any access to emergency medical care.

But not only have people been forced to flee, leaving their homes and even family members behind - they are now facing new challenges in the camps for displaced people. Rising temperatures, reaching scorching heat up to 40 degrees, is making it even more difficult for people to cope in an already difficult situation.

MSF is currently supporting a camp for displaced people in Mardan district, northwest of the capital Islamabad. MSF is providing healthcare, tents, clean water, and teams are building latrines and distributing non food items. The medical facility that MSF has set up in the Mardan camp is doing medical consultations in the outpatient department for both males and females.

“Since I arrived in the Mardan camp we have had between 150-300 medical consultations per day,” says Dr Amjad, a doctor for MSF who previously worked in the MSF supported Saidur Sharif hospital in Swat, before he was forced to flee the area.   “The most common health problems that I have seen so far are cases of watery diarrhoea, scabies, heat exhaustion and general pain from walking long distances by foot through the mountains,” Dr Amjad explains.     

MSF also provides free drugs and has a 24-hour response for critical patients. Referrals are done by ambulance to the nearest hospital. MSF has set up a labour and delivery room and offers antenatal and postnatal care.  

In addition, MSF is distributing non-food items to people living in so called ‘non-official camps,’ like mosques and school buildings, with essentials such as cooking sets and hygiene and sleeping kits.

MSF´s remaining activities in Pakistan-Baluchistan, Kurram Agency and in the Peshawar area- continue to run uninterrupted. MSF also supports basic health units in the Peshawar region where people are hosting families displaced by the conflict. MSF also supports a camp in Charsadda and has been distributing non-food items to displaced people in Peshawar, Charsadda and Mardan since August 2008.

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