ASIA/PAKISTAN - Medical facilities in the northwestern areas of conflict are on the brink of collapse

Peshawar (Agenzia Fides) - In the last three years, doctors and nurses at the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan, have been particularly busy. The hospital, one of the largest in the country, monitors patients throughout the province of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (KP), but since the beginning of the conflict, about three years ago, there has been an increase of patients by 20-25% . Currently, each day 5500-6000 people are visited in clinics and emergency rooms. In a statement by the hospital's chief executive says there is a lack of doctors, especially women, in the tribal area of South Waziristan and in the main town of the province, Wana. Most have found work elsewhere and leave the war zone. The situation is particularly difficult for women who live in these areas because they are often reluctant to being examined by male doctors. In addition, the Taliban do not allow women to work forcing many women doctors and nurses to abandon the work or escape from the areas under military control. Those who refuse are often subject to severe punishment.
The situation is most serious in areas such as Kurram Agency, where conflict has been going on since 2007, and humanitarian agencies are very concerned because since conflicts have intensified, health care has become scarce. In a recent report released by the organization Doctors Without Borders, says that "sectarian violence in Kurram Agency, one of 7 in the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), continue to make the delivery of aid to cities and Alizai Sadda even more complicated. At Lady Reading Hospital men, women and children arrive from the tribal area and even from Afghanistan in search of medical help that they cannot receive at home. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 07/26/2011)