In Pakistan, stagnant floodwaters have led to widespread cases of skin and eye infections, diarrhea, malaria, typhoid and dengue fever. READ:
On a recent visit, Reuters witnessed hundreds of people crammed into rooms and corridors, desperately seeking treatment for malaria and other illnesses that are spreading fast after the country’s worst floods in decades.
Most of the estimated 300–400 patients arriving at his clinic each morning, many of them children, are suffering from malaria and diarrhea, although with winter approaching, Mr. Ahmed fears other illnesses will become more common. The crisis hits Pakistan at a particularly bad time. With its economy in crisis, propped up by loans from the International Monetary Fund, it does not have the resources to cope with the longer-term effects of the flooding.
“We are short of human resources considering the magnitude of the burden of disease following the unprecedented rains and floods,” Qasim Soomro, provincial lawmaker and parliamentary health secretary of the Sindh government, told Reuters. Mr. Ahmed, a graduate of a university in China, described the pressure he and other medics were under.