ChildLife Foundation's joint ERs with Sindh govt treated thousands of children

KARACHI: More than 100,000 children have been treated for free in the Emergency Rooms (ERs) at children's government teaching hospitals in flood-affected areas.

Despite excessive rains and flooding in disaster-stricken parts of Sindh, the ERs have stayed open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.ChildLife Foundation operates the ERs as part of longstanding public-private cooperation between the Sindh government and the organisation. 

It has boosted the province's public health system by bringing emergency rooms for children to worldwide treatment standards. More than 400 healthcare and management experts are in charge of emergency rooms in flood-affected communities, where children with water-borne illnesses such as gastroenteritis, malaria, cholera, dengue, typhoid, pneumonia, and skin infections receive prompt medical care.

The floods have created an alarming public health crisis and put children in danger of contracting sickness and dying. Children's emergency rooms in the flood-affected areas of Larkana, Sukkur, Nawabshah, and Hyderabad see twice as many patients daily as usual. Dr Ahson Rabbani, the president and CEO of ChildLife Foundation, explains that the government's assistance has allowed for the uninterrupted supply of emergency care to flood-affected children.

Through a telemedicine network, the cooperation of the Sindh government has enabled telehealth consultations for children in distant rural regions. It connects all of Sindh's district hospitals to the Civil Hospital in Karachi, where child experts examine patients via HD camera and IP phone and give professional counselling.

In addition, free medical camps have been established for children in Daur, District Shaheed Benazirabad, Tharushah, District Naushahro Feroze, and Oderolal Station, District Matiari. Child experts have offered flood-affected children free medical care, medications, and referrals at these medical camps.