KURRAM / KARACHI: Philanthropist Faisal Edhi has said the humanitarian crisis in Parachinar was worsening as the shortage of medicines and other supplies had put people’s lives at risk.
“We are in dire need of essential medicines here. In addition, dozens of children are suffering from pneumonia, and the situation has become critical,” he told Dawn from Parachinar, where he arrived via helicopter on Tuesday with supplies.
Choppers are being used to airlift medicines and essential items to restive parts of Kurram as some key roads were still blocked, weeks after dozens lost their lives in clashes motivated by sectarian and tribal rivalries.
On Tuesday, the Edhi Air Ambulance Service brought medicines to Parachinar and shifted several injured and sick people to Peshawar for treatment.
The Parachinar-Peshawar highway and the Pak-Afghan border are both closed, following last month’s attack on a convoy of vehicles and subsequent armed clashes that left over 130 people dead.
The closure of roads has resulted in a dire shortage of food, medicines and other daily-use items in villages located close to the Pak-Afghan border.
Mr Edhi told Dawn that health facilities in Parachinar were ill-equipped to deal with the mounting number of patients, many of whom are in dire need of critical care.
“There is no infrastructure in place to keep these patients warm, and we don’t even have enough firewood to provide heat.”
He said there was no insulin for people who have diabetes, and patients in critical condition needed to be transferred to other cities urgently.
“Just today, we flew two female patients — one with cancer and the other with a spinal cord injury — to Peshawar,” he said.
Earlier, while talking to reporters at the Parachinar’s Benazir Bhutto Airport, Mr Edhi said the air ambulance flew two sorties, carrying medicines and evacuating the injured. He also met patients at the District Headquarters Hospital.
The hospital’s medical superintendent, Mir Hassan Jan, briefed Mr Edhi about the shortage of medicines and other issues.
He said the closure of roads has not only created a shortage of medicines, but the region’s markets have also run out of edibles, gas and other items of daily use.
‘People are suffering’
In a statement, the KP government said a third consignment of medicines ferried via a helicopter had reached Parachinar.
It claimed that at least two months’ stock of medicines had been transported to Parachinar.
But Shahid Kazmi, a local activist, criticised the government over its failure to resolve the dispute and re-open Kurram’s roads.
He said innocent children and older people are suffering from freezing cold due to the shortage of firewood and other supplies.
The medicines transported through the KP chief minister’s helicopter were not sufficient to address the needs of the population that is living virtually “under siege” in Upper Kurram, he told Dawn.
Wajid Khan, a father of two-month-old twins from Lower Kurram, said he couldn’t buy powdered milk for his babies as all pharmacies were out of stock.
Peace efforts resume
Meanwhile, Kurram Deputy Commissioner Javed Mehsud said the grand jirga, which brokered peace following deadly violence, has resumed its activities.
The jirga was working to address people’s concerns and reopen the roads.
Ali Hadi Irfani, MPA from Kurram, said thousands of people in Upper Kurram were “besieged for more than 70 days” due to road closures.
If the government fails to address this issue immediately, it could result in a “human tragedy”.
Mr Irfani said if the government was serious about protecting the lives and properties of people, it should immediately open the Parachinar Road and ensure security for travellers.
The lawmakers also called for an immediate opening of the Pak-Afghan border.
Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2024
