Many mountain quake villages still without health care

The crowd appears impatient as a small Pakistani military helicopter hovers over tiny Chattian village, some 1,600 m above sea level, loaded with relief items. But as the helicopter lands and goods are unloaded, a family with a sick child rushes to clamber on board to get their loved one airlifted to hospital in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, as quickly as possible. Such actions are understandable when local residents in the village, about 40 km northeast of Muzaffarabad, note how long it takes them to get to the nearest health facility. "Over the past two months we have not seen any doctors and no medical facility," Abdul Wahid, 45, a local Chattian resident, complained. Anwar Khan, another resident of Chattian, concurred. "Lack of medical facilities is one of the main problems we face," he said. They are not alone. More than two months after a powerful earthquake ripped through parts of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, scores of mountain villages throughout the quake-affected areas still lack medical facilities and staff. Many residents suffer from respiratory diseases as they have no choice but to live in tents which fail to protect them from the bitter cold nights. Even during the day in some spots of the village frozen water does not melt, while chilly wind continues to make the air colder. No roads lead to Chattian and there is no electricity in the area either. Compounding the problem further, local residents have no other choice but to walk for up five hours to reach the Machiara union council, home to one of the only health facilities in the area. "If the sick people cannot make it to that health facility, they simply die," Wahid added grimly. The case of the two villages illustrates the plight of many remote villages in mountains of the quake-affected area that still need medical help. According to the Planning and Land Use Department of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, there are over 150 villages above 1,500 m or above the snowline in Muzaffarabad district alone, one of the worst hit areas. More than 80 percent of health facilities in the devastated region had been either destroyed or damaged beyond use in the 8 October quake, according to relief groups. Some relief workers said that currently less than 50 percent of health facilities that were there before the quake in mountain villages could be providing some basic health services, while some claimed that the percentage might be even lower - between 25 and 30 percent. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has distributed emergency health kits to 25 health facilities in Muzaffarabad district. Pakistan's Federal Relief Commission said that there were over 45 foreign field hospitals in the affected areas. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is planning to build initially 50 basic health units (BHU) in the quake area.