IOM's emergency medical programme launched in September to help
restore Pakistan's flood-damaged healthcare system will be extended
and expanded through May 2011 thanks to USD 350,000 from Canada and
USD 500,000 in new funding from the UN-administered Pakistan
Emergency Response Fund.

New activities, starting in January 2011, will include the
refurbishment of four flood-damaged health clinics in Sindh and
Punjab provinces.

IOM will also support the government in enhancing existing
health centers for telemedicine and teleradiology. The centers are
essential for doctors in remote areas who need to consult
specialists.

Four months into the flood relief operation, IOM's rural health
clinics in Sindh and Punjab continue to face high demand for basic
health care.

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"We have treated a total of 45,026 patients since the clinics
opened in early September. This includes consultations by our
medical mobile teams, who bring basic health care to flood victims
in hard-to-reach areas," says IOM Migration Health Programmes
Manager Dr. Zeljko Pavlovic.

According to Pavlovic, with the onset of winter in the south of
Pakistan, acute respiratory infections are the most prevalent
illnesses. "Many flood victims in the worst affected provinces of
Sindh and Punjab had their homes ruined and lost their livelihoods,
so they are lacking proper protection from cold winter weather," he
says.

IOM's four clinics in southern Sindh and southern Punjab are run
by a total of 20 health care professionals, including eight
doctors. In Sindh, where more than an estimated 800,000 houses were
either destroyed or damaged by the floods, some areas remain
underwater, making hospital access impossible.

Where possible, IOM operates ambulances to transport emergency
patients to hospitals. IOM ambulances have facilitated assisted
referral of more than 700 patients since the start of the programme
in September.

For more information on IOM's activities in Pakistan, to
download the IOM Appeal or to donate to IOM's flood response,
please go to: "/jahia/Jahia/pakistan" target="" title=
"">http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/pakistan.

For information on the Emergency Shelter Cluster, please go to:
"https://sites.google.com/site/shelterpak2010/" target="_blank"
title="">https://sites.google.com/site/shelterpak2010/.

For additional information please contact:

Eliane Engeler

IOM Islamabad

Tel: +92.300 852 6357

E-mail: "mailto:engeler.iom@gmail.com">engeler.iom@gmail.com

or 

Saleem Rehmat

Tel: +92.300 856 0341

E-mail: "mailto:srehmat@iom.int">srehmat@iom.int