Doctors in Badakhshan as pneumonia toll mounts

FAIZABADA (PAN on Saturday said that doctors along with tonnes of medicines had reached northern Badakhshan province to deal with pneumonia cases there.

Local officials have given contradictory casualty figures for children suffering from the disease in the remote province, bordering Pakistan’s northwestern Chitral Valley.

The ministry said drugs had been distributed to hospital in areas, where the diseases was spreading. The public health director said the drugs were taken to Yawan, Kohistan and Raghistan districts by six medical teams to provide emergency treatment to infected children.

Dr. Noor Muhammad Khawri told Pajhwok Afghan News 15 children had died over the past two weeks and many others had been suffering pneumonia in the districts. He linked the deaths to road blockades by snow as, saying the teams and the drugs reached the affected areas on horsebacks.

But Dr. Sajjad, who runs a clinic in Yawaran district, told Pajhwok over the telephone that 13 children had died in the Bashan village of Raghistan district alone, with 39 others losing their lives in Shangan, Drang, Qatarbid, Nawabad and Shind Aab villages.

Zabihullah Attique, the provincial council head, said the death toll was higher than mentioned by the public health director. Khawri said the exact figure was yet to be ascertained because roads leading to the remote villages remained blocked.

According to Sanaullah Ameri, the Afghanistan Natural Disasters Management Authority head for Badakhshan, the snow had cut off most of districts and villages, leaving residents unable to have access to healthcare centers. He also said residents were in dire need of food and animal feed.

mds/ma/mud

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