ICC Note:
In early September, Pakistan experienced torrential rain during monsoon season. Many impoverished Christians have been devastated because of the rain and don’t have access to necessities like healthcare, food, and housing. One group of Christians finally received medical care and learned that there were various waterborne diseases causing illness. The medical staff provided healthy living advice and medicine while also detailing the devastating living conditions including leaking sewage pipes, flooded homes, and no medical care.
10/01/2017 Pakistan (Pakistan Christian Post) – Over 4 extremely busy days a professional medical team served over 300 Christian victims of the Karachi flood, many of whom were found to have been affected by water contaminated by overflowing sewage and rife with waterborne disease.
Two cities were visited one was Essa Nagri and the other Malir Cantt and very similar medical conditions were detected in both regions. Two doctors and four nurses helped serve the constant flow of people interested in a medical check or treatment for illness.
On the first day 42 patients were seen, on the second day 88 patients on the third day we met with 96 patients and 102 on the last day. News soon spread about the free medical camp and medicines and many of those who came for help had their first encounter with a doctor, for most of the others it was a rare opportunity to see a doctor.
Almost all the patients were Christians until the last day when one Memon family in Malir town. In Essa Nagri all were Christian. The Memon Muslim people migrated to Karachi from India after the 1947 partition and have their own language as well as Urdu.
A number of illnesses and diseases were diagnosed during the medical camp, some of the treatable and preventable diseases detected could have been fatal if not diagnosed by our medical team. Some of the patients brought to the medical team had been carried across by friends and family in critical condition. In these cases immediate treatment was provided and BPCA paid for transport of the patient to a local hospital.
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