Flood victims suffer from inadequate medical care

A trail of devastation follows as the floodwater recedes from remote areas in Feni district. With this, many of the flood affected people have been suffering from various ailments including skin diseases, fever, coughs and cold.

Both adults and children have been suffering from fever, cold-related diseases, coughs, and diarrhoea in Feni, Noakhali, Lakshmipur and Cumilla districts where floods remained for nine days.

The flood affected people said that the areas are still submerged. Many health centres and community clinics at the union level are closed and they have been suffering from lack of sufficient medicines and medical treatment.

The disaster management and relief ministry said 619 medical teams are working in the 11 flood affected districts to provide medical care to the people. Meanwhile, the death toll in the flood rose to 31 as of Wednesday, said a latest update of the ministry.

Due to the flood situation, a 15-km long traffic jam was created on Dhaka-Chattogram highway from Jatrabari to Madanpur stretch due to trucks with relief materials. The movement of vehicles, however, became normal in the afternoon.

The flood situation has improved in Parshuram and Fulgazi upazilas in Feni while the water water is receding slowly in Feni sadar, Sonagazi and Dagonbhuiyan upazilas.

The flood affected people from remote areas have moved to shelter centres but are not getting necessary medical care as most of the community clinics are closed. Although the health complexes have opened in the last two days and are providing treatment to people at the complexes, the health workers are unable to visit the permanent and temporary shelter centres. As a result, the guardians are in a state of bother with their children.

Feni district’s civil surgeon Shihab Uddin told Prothom Alo that they are unable to go to villages due to the floodwaters.

He further said that most of the patients have been suffering from diarrhoea, fever, cold and cough. Most of them are children. Six emergency teams have been formed for six upazilas. They are providing medical care at camps.

A visit to six shelter centres in Fazilpur, Lemua and Chhagalnaiya of Feni Sadar showed the children suffering from various diseases.

Noakhali’s civil surgeon Masum Iftekhar told Prothom Alo that 88 medical teams have been working in the district to provide medical care to the flood affected people. They are visiting the shelter centres and providing water purification tablets, oral saline and necessary medicines.

The flood affected people in Lakshmipur have been suffering from various waterborne diseases due to drinking and wading through dirty floodwater.

The health directorate (DGHS) asked for allocation of medicines for the flood hit areas on an emergency basis but it has received only 50,000 packets of oral saline as of Wednesday.

According to the Lakshmipur civil surgeon office, 64 medical teams have been working in the district to provide medical care to the people as 40 community clinics and three satellite health centres have submerged here.

Lakshmipur civil surgeon Ahammad Kabir said the health workers are going to the doorsteps of the people in remote areas on boats and providing treatment and medicines.

In Cumilla, nearly 80,000 took shelter at 724 shelter centres. As many as 207 medical teams have been constituted in the district but no team went in the remote areas until Wednesday.

Cumilla deputy civil surgeon Nazmul Hossain said they have been trying to give medical treatment to the people in the remote areas.

KM Ali Reza, additional secretary to the disaster management and relief ministry, in a media briefing at the ministry on Wednesday said 73 upazilas of 11 districts have been hit by the flood so far. The number of marooned families rose to 1,227,554 from 1,2.7,429 on Tuesday.

Besides, the number of victims has also risen to 5,822,734. So far 4003 shelter centres have been opened where 540,510 people took shelter.

The number of deaths has risen to 31 while two more people in Moulvibazar are missing.

[Staff Correspondent and Correspondent of relevant areas helped in writing the report.]