With the water starting to recede in flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir, authorities are now apprehending health hazards in the state, where over 1.42 lakh people have been rescued so far.
As health worries mounted amid fears of possible outbreak of water-borne diseases, 13 tonnes of water-purifying tablets and six water filtration plants with a capacity to filter 1.2 lakh bottles per day reached Srinagar.
Already, 80 Armed Forces Medical Services teams are operating in full swing. Four field hospitals have been established in Avantipur, Pattan, Anantnag and Old Airfield, where medical aid is being provided to the ailing people. “Till now, they have treated around 22,500 patients,” said a statement on Saturday.
Anticipating serious health problems, the authorities have rushed two more fully-equipped field hospitals with laboratory-testing-equipment facility from Bathinda to Srinagar. Ten tonnes of medicine and other healthcare materials, including a mobile oxygen generation plant, have also been rushed from Delhi.
The National Disaster Response Force has also deployed “boat hospitals” in waterlogged areas to provide healthcare facilities to the stranded people.
The authorities have also sent 30 generator sets of 3-5 KVA capacity to augment continuous power supply in relief camps and field hospitals.
Communication equipment from the department of telecommunication, the Army, BSNL and some private companies have been dispatched to restore the communication systems in the state.
Thousands are still stranded, with the floods having killed at least 200 people in more than a week. Rescue workers have stepped up efforts to pump out water from Srinagar and other areas.
Rescue equipment, including suction pumps from Vishakhapatnam, have reached the flood-affected areas, while 12 sewage pumps from Delhi have also been dispatched to the Valley, according to the statement.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh refused to put a number to the loss at this point of time.
A delegation of ministers from Jammu and Kashmir called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi to request him to declare the natural disaster a “national calamity”.
The delegation, led by Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, requested Modi to announce a “liberal and pragmatic” financial and special rehabilitation package to restore normalcy to the state at the earliest.
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