NOWSHERA: Lack of coordination among different health outlets at Jalozai camp for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) has affected the health delivery system, lessening relief to the homeless families.
The Jalozai camp, which was established in 80s for Afghan refugees and subsequently dismantled, had to be re-established but this time for the natives from the strife-stricken area of Bajaur tribal agency. However, for Afghan refugees, mud-houses were built at the site that protected them from the sweltering heat, besides providing them some sort of security.
Now the huge tent city has been divided into different phases for administrative purposes. The influx from different districts of Malakand division due to military operations added a new phase to the tent city now named “Benazir Relief Camp”.
In the Benazir Camp, both the private and public sectors have established health facilities, including President’s Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI), LHWs Programme, Hamza Foundation, Ummah Welfare Trust, army field hospital, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Marlin camp, Benazir Health camp, Lady Reading Hospital camp, etc.
Talking to The News, a doctor on duty said acute respiratory infection was on top among the displaced persons, closely followed by diarrhea perhaps due to poor sanitation and unclean drinking water. He said that diarrhea and scabies were recording a surge and needed urgent containment steps.
It was observed that there were a lot of medical camps but they had no coordination at all. There is overlapping of services. Also, people feign illness to receive drugs, only to sell them in the market.
“There should be a centralised medical assistance system in which a patient should be issued a health card through which he could get access to healthcare facility. It will also help end overlapping,” said a senior doctor at the camp while pointing to cases where one patient avails the facility simultaneously from different outlets.
The PIMS and Pakistan Army have established field hospitals providing almost all indoor hospital facilities. However, emergencies are referred to Pabbi Satellite Hospital.
After visiting the other phases of Jalozai camp, it was observed that Phase-I and II were comparatively more structured and organised. In these phases, the IDPs were being provided all basic health facilities, including EPI Programme and anti-TB services while in the newly established Benazir Relief Camp for the displaced people of Swat, Dir and Buner things were still disorganized.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Makers of nuclear weapons know ’how to protect it’: Qadeer
ISLAMABAD: Renowned nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has said that the countries that are making nuclear weapons know how to protect it.Talking to a private TV channel here on Thursday, he declared that: "Pakistan’s nuclear nukes are safe and there is no question of falling it into wrong hands".He said that Pakistan was passing through a critical juncture but, however, we should not be disappointed from Allah because it is an examination and we would succeed in it.He said that Pakistan changed impossible into possible and knows how to take care of its nukes, adding, West and US do not want Pakistan have nuclear weapons, therefore, they were deceiving the world by making baseless propaganda.Qadeer said that West and US like to have nuclear weapons for themselves but do not like it for Muslim world.He said our nuclear assets are safe and there is no question of falling it into Taliban hands.
China quarantines U.S. school group over flu concerns
A group of students and teachers from a Maryland private school have been quarantined in China because of swine flu concerns, a school spokeswoman said Thursday.
The Chinese government has confined 21 students and three teachers to their hotel rooms in Kaili, China, because a passenger on their plane to China was suspected of having swine flu, or H1N1, said Vicky Temple, director of communications for the Barrie School in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Temple said the students and teachers are occupying two floors of a four-star hotel in the Guizhou province city in southern China.
The quarantine will end Friday, and the students are scheduled to return to the United States on Sunday, Temple said.
Mike Kennedy, the head of Barrie School, said U.S. consular officials have since told the school that the plane passenger does not have swine flu, or H1N1.
"So now our question has been for the last 24 hours, can this quarantine be lifted even sooner than sometime on Friday so these kids can get out and enjoy a little bit of China," he said.
"Since about noon on Monday, they have been in their hotel rooms," he said. "They've missed the lion's share of the itinerary."
China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the Guizhou province's health bureau announced this week that it had discovered two dozen Americans who had been within four rows of the suspected swine flu case on the plane.
The plane had departed Friday from San Francisco, California.
Kennedy said the students and teachers are permitted to speak to one another through the open doors of their hotel rooms, but are not allowed to leave. "They're being well taken care of, but they are in their hotel rooms," he said.
"It's very frustrating," he said, but added, "I understand and I'd like to say that the Chinese officials have been as kind and friendly to our kids and chaperones as they can be."
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a Thursday afternoon briefing that he was aware of the report but said he didn't have any details on the circumstances or what the U.S. officials might be doing about it.
Obama reiterates call for Israel to halt West Bank settlement activity
Obama meets with Abbas
President Obama says he and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas talked about peace in the Middle East.
Islamabad security beefed up after Peshawar bombings
PESHAWAR: Following the twin blasts in North West Frontier Province (NWFP)’s provincial capital Peshawar, the security have been put on high alert in federal capital Islamabad while red zone has been completely sealed up late on Thursday, according to the report of Geo news.As per police sources, no trespassing is allowed in red zone area here coupled with the strict monitoring of the vehicles entering the city.The vehicles of the diplomatic personnel are also being checked up through trained dogs in Diplomatic Enclave, sources said adding that the security at the hotels, guesthouses and sensitive buildings across capital has been stringent.
Obama says health care a must this year _ or never
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama warned Thursday that if Congress doesn't deliver health care legislation by the end of the year the opportunity will be lost, a plea to political supporters to pressure lawmakers to act.
"If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done," Obama told supporters by phone as he flew home on Air Force One from a West Coast fundraising trip.
Obama's political organization, Organizing for America, invited campaign volunteers to a midday conference call to describe a nationwide June 6 kickoff for its health care campaign. The president's message to his re-election campaign-in-waiting was simple: If volunteers don't pressure lawmakers to support the White House's goal on health care, Washington would drag its feet and nothing would change.
"The election in November, it didn't bring about change. It gave us an opportunity for change," Obama said.
The presidential plea came as lawmakers prepare for an aggressive schedule of work aimed at producing comprehensive health care overhaul bills in the House and Senate by August.
Committee hearings — and soon thereafter votes — will start next week, as soon as lawmakers return to Washington from a weeklong recess. Many members of Congress spent the break holding town hall meetings and other forums with their constituents about health care, even as opponents and supporters of Obama's plans ramped up television and radio ads for and against.
"I think the status quo is unacceptable and that we've got to get it done this year," Obama repeated, ginning up his supporters for a door-to-door and phone-to-phone canvass similar to his presidential campaign.
Obama's top aides, including former campaign manager David Plouffe, told the supporters that they have a challenge ahead of them.
"If the country stands with the president and if the country is demanding health care reform than we'll get it done; Washington will not have any option but to follow us," Plouffe said on the call, which was not announced on the White House's official schedule.
The president's conversation with his supporters was part pep talk and part a nod to political reality. Obama is looking to use his network of supporters to deliver a campaign promise, and if he seeks a second term in 2012 — an almost certainty — he hopes to keep many of those volunteers engaged in person and online.
The president said the costs of the nation's $2.5 trillion health care system are crushing families and businesses and pose the largest threat to the economy.
The White House is leaving it to lawmakers to work out the details of a health care plan, but Obama has said it should ensure choice and lower costs, while extending coverage to the 50 million Americans now uninsured. The cost of accomplishing that has been estimated around $1.5 trillion, and figuring out how to pay is emerging as a major challenge for Congress and the White House.
The Republican National Committee said Obama's approach was not the right path, arguing that Democrats are pushing for a government-run health care system that will take away individual choice.
"If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done," Obama told supporters by phone as he flew home on Air Force One from a West Coast fundraising trip.
Obama's political organization, Organizing for America, invited campaign volunteers to a midday conference call to describe a nationwide June 6 kickoff for its health care campaign. The president's message to his re-election campaign-in-waiting was simple: If volunteers don't pressure lawmakers to support the White House's goal on health care, Washington would drag its feet and nothing would change.
"The election in November, it didn't bring about change. It gave us an opportunity for change," Obama said.
The presidential plea came as lawmakers prepare for an aggressive schedule of work aimed at producing comprehensive health care overhaul bills in the House and Senate by August.
Committee hearings — and soon thereafter votes — will start next week, as soon as lawmakers return to Washington from a weeklong recess. Many members of Congress spent the break holding town hall meetings and other forums with their constituents about health care, even as opponents and supporters of Obama's plans ramped up television and radio ads for and against.
"I think the status quo is unacceptable and that we've got to get it done this year," Obama repeated, ginning up his supporters for a door-to-door and phone-to-phone canvass similar to his presidential campaign.
Obama's top aides, including former campaign manager David Plouffe, told the supporters that they have a challenge ahead of them.
"If the country stands with the president and if the country is demanding health care reform than we'll get it done; Washington will not have any option but to follow us," Plouffe said on the call, which was not announced on the White House's official schedule.
The president's conversation with his supporters was part pep talk and part a nod to political reality. Obama is looking to use his network of supporters to deliver a campaign promise, and if he seeks a second term in 2012 — an almost certainty — he hopes to keep many of those volunteers engaged in person and online.
The president said the costs of the nation's $2.5 trillion health care system are crushing families and businesses and pose the largest threat to the economy.
The White House is leaving it to lawmakers to work out the details of a health care plan, but Obama has said it should ensure choice and lower costs, while extending coverage to the 50 million Americans now uninsured. The cost of accomplishing that has been estimated around $1.5 trillion, and figuring out how to pay is emerging as a major challenge for Congress and the White House.
The Republican National Committee said Obama's approach was not the right path, arguing that Democrats are pushing for a government-run health care system that will take away individual choice.
Four blasts kill at least 10, hurt over 80 in northwest
PESHAWAR: Two bombs exploded in a market in the Frontier capital of Peshawar on Thursday, killing six people, and gunmen on rooftops ambushed police as they arrived at the scene, police said.
A short while later, a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary checkpost in another part of the city, killing two soldiers and wounding three.
‘He was on foot and as we saw him, he ran and blew himself up when he got close to us,’ Wasiullah, a paramilitary soldier wounded in the attack, told Reuters as he arrived at a hospital.
The attack was soon followed by a huge bomb blast and gunfire was heard on the streets of Dera Ismail Khan, police said.
Three were killed and seven injured after a bomb planted in the city’s town hall exploded, police told DawnNews.
Peshawar bazaar attack
The first two bombs were planted on motorbikes in the vicinity of Qissa Khwani (Storytellers) Bazaar in Peshawar’s old city and caused extensive damage.
Six people were killed and about 70 wounded, provincial government minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour told Reuters.
The first blast triggered a huge fire in Kabari Bazaar, which lies in a narrow lane and destroyed at least seven cars, witnesses said.
Minutes later a second bomb went off in another market across the road sparking another fire and gutting up to 18 electronics shops, AFP reported.
‘Two separate timed bombs were planted on motorbikes, which exploded in quick succession,’ said Shafqat Malik, a senior police investigator.
Soon afterwards, gunmen on rooftops began firing at police in lanes below.
Television showed policemen firing back while colleagues strapped on bullet-proof vests.
Police later said two gunmen had been killed and two suspects detained.
‘We’re carrying out searches as others could be hiding,’ city police chief Sifwat Ghayyur told reporters.
PESHAWAR: Two bombs exploded in a market in the Frontier capital of Peshawar on Thursday, killing six people, and gunmen on rooftops ambushed police as they arrived at the scene, police said.
PESHAWAR: Two bombs exploded in a market in the Frontier capital of Peshawar on Thursday, killing six people, and gunmen on rooftops ambushed police as they arrived at the scene, police said.
A short while later, a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary checkpost in another part of the city, killing two soldiers and wounding three.
‘He was on foot and as we saw him, he ran and blew himself up when he got close to us,’ Wasiullah, a paramilitary soldier wounded in the attack, told Reuters as he arrived at a hospital.
The attack was soon followed by a huge bomb blast and gunfire was heard on the streets of Dera Ismail Khan, police said.
Three were killed and seven injured after a bomb planted in the city’s town hall exploded, police told DawnNews.
Peshawar bazaar attack
The first two bombs were planted on motorbikes in the vicinity of Qissa Khwani (Storytellers) Bazaar in Peshawar’s old city and caused extensive damage.
Six people were killed and about 70 wounded, provincial government minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour told Reuters.
The first blast triggered a huge fire in Kabari Bazaar, which lies in a narrow lane and destroyed at least seven cars, witnesses said.
Minutes later a second bomb went off in another market across the road sparking another fire and gutting up to 18 electronics shops, AFP reported.
‘Two separate timed bombs were planted on motorbikes, which exploded in quick succession,’ said Shafqat Malik, a senior police investigator.
Soon afterwards, gunmen on rooftops began firing at police in lanes below.
Television showed policemen firing back while colleagues strapped on bullet-proof vests.
Police later said two gunmen had been killed and two suspects detained.
‘We’re carrying out searches as others could be hiding,’ city police chief Sifwat Ghayyur told reporters.
A short while later, a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary checkpost in another part of the city, killing two soldiers and wounding three.
‘He was on foot and as we saw him, he ran and blew himself up when he got close to us,’ Wasiullah, a paramilitary soldier wounded in the attack, told Reuters as he arrived at a hospital.
The attack was soon followed by a huge bomb blast and gunfire was heard on the streets of Dera Ismail Khan, police said.
Three were killed and seven injured after a bomb planted in the city’s town hall exploded, police told DawnNews.
Peshawar bazaar attack
The first two bombs were planted on motorbikes in the vicinity of Qissa Khwani (Storytellers) Bazaar in Peshawar’s old city and caused extensive damage.
Six people were killed and about 70 wounded, provincial government minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour told Reuters.
The first blast triggered a huge fire in Kabari Bazaar, which lies in a narrow lane and destroyed at least seven cars, witnesses said.
Minutes later a second bomb went off in another market across the road sparking another fire and gutting up to 18 electronics shops, AFP reported.
‘Two separate timed bombs were planted on motorbikes, which exploded in quick succession,’ said Shafqat Malik, a senior police investigator.
Soon afterwards, gunmen on rooftops began firing at police in lanes below.
Television showed policemen firing back while colleagues strapped on bullet-proof vests.
Police later said two gunmen had been killed and two suspects detained.
‘We’re carrying out searches as others could be hiding,’ city police chief Sifwat Ghayyur told reporters.
Peshawar twin blasts kill six, injure dozens
PESHAWAR :Two bomb blasts ripped through Qissa Khuwani Bazar has killed at least six people and injured dozens in Peshawar, Aaj News reported.
According to the channel, one policeman, five civilians were killed in the blasts.
Ambulances were rushing to the scene, police has cordoned off the area. Emergency has been declared in all hospitals.
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