PARACHINAR, PAKISTAN: The restive border town of Parachinar is facing a humanitarian crisis due to the current blockade of the highway connecting the city to the rest of Pakistan, which has continued for more than two months. Markets in and around Parachinar are out of stock on various essential commodities, particularly medicines.
Children and the elderly who suffered from seasonal viral infections died in recent weeks due to the severe shortage of life-saving drugs. There is a lack of gas and oxygen in the children’s ward at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ), which is the city’s only government hospital. Nearly all local pharmacies in the Kurram district have run out of medicines.
At least 29 children have died since the blockade began in October, according to doctors. But the actual number of child fatalities due to the siege may be higher. Pediatrician Dr. Zulfiqar Ali told Dissent Today that the lack of access to petroleum in the area has prevented many patients from reaching hospitals in the outskirts of Parachinar. As a result, they are unable to register the number of child fatalities caused by various seasonal viral diseases.
The Thal-Parachinar Highway is the only road connecting Parachinar to the rest of the country, and it has been closed due to the ongoing sectarian clashes in the Kurram district, which began in October. The violence that resulted from the clashes claimed more than 120 lives.
Many children are admitted in the nursery ward at the District Headquarters Hospital in Parachinar, which is experiencing a shortage of gas and oxygen. With temperatures dropping to -4°C, the lives of many children under treatment at the hospital are at risk. Moreover, the shortage of milk is causing severe nutritional problems for children.
Child physicians at the DHQ hospital have requested the immediate provision of LPG gas for heating, as well as oxygen cylinders for emergencies and necessary medicines for children.
The hospital’s wards are currently at full capacity, and the administration is refusing admission to new patients.
Another pediatric specialist at DHQ Parachinar, Dr. Iqrar Hussain, said that the absence of gas for heating the hospital wards is forcing parents to take their sick children home. “This is causing the spread of viral infections among families,” he told Dissent Today.
Wajid Khan, the father of two-month-old twin babies from Lower Kurram, has been unable to find powdered milk for his children, as all the pharmacies and stores are out of stock. With tears in his eyes, he expressed his anguish over the lack of available nutrition. He noted that hundreds of other fathers are also searching the markets for nutrition for their children but have been unsuccessful.
A Parachinar-based social activist, Shahid Kazmi, told Dissent Today that the medicines provided by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister via helicopter are merely a media stunt. “In reality, the supplies delivered to the DHQ Hospital are insufficient to meet the needs of the approximately 380,000 people under siege in Upper Kurram.”
The writer is a journalist from Parachinar.
