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Delhi hospitals send teams of specialists to treat flood-hit
Doctors from the central government-run Ram Manohar Lohia and Safdarjung Hospitals have been rushed to provide medical care in Uttarakhand.Rhythma Kaul reports.
Doctors from the central government-run Ram Manohar Lohia and Safdarjung Hospitals have been rushed to provide medical care in Uttarakhand.
Two doctors each have been sent from the departments of cardiology, internal medicine and psychiatry from the two hospitals.
"A team of specialists is ready to deal with such disaster cases. We sent the doctors after direction from the health ministry," said a senior administrative official from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
A team of psycho-social analysts have been sent from Karnataka's National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.
"In situations like these, the affected people go through a lot of psychological trauma and the psychiatrists are sent to counsel people and help them come out of the shock in a better way," said Dr Jagdish Prasad, Director General Health Services.
Three teams of doctors comprising a microbiologist and an epidemiologist each, apart from the cardiologists, internal medicine specialists and psychiatrists have also been sent to Uttarakhand.
Three trucks comprising 60 different types of life-saving medicines have been sent to the state.
"We have already sent three trucks of medicines. Through the Red Cross, we sent 1,600 body bags for the dead. We are procuring 10 lakh chlorine tablets," said Anshu Prakash, joint secretary, health ministry.
According to the sources in the health ministry, there is no report of any outbreak of an epidemic from any place so far. However, the state government has reported having received 412 cases of injury so far. The main problem will surface once the water starts receding, as it will lead to a spurt in cases of several water-borne and mosquito-borne diseases. The government has strengthened its local integrated disease surveillance programme to check any disease outbreak.
Nearly 250 first medical responders of the Indian Red Cross are helping in relief and rescue work since day one.
"We had started a pilot project last year to locally recruit and train people for any medical emergency in disaster-prone areas. These people have proved of great help. We have established a base camp in Uttarakhand and we will keep it operational for a month," said an official from the organisation.
"We have sent relief items such as clothes, kitchen utensils, blankets, mosquito nets, etc," he said.
