Doctor sends £1m medical supplies to Pakistan
Updated on 21 August 2010
As Pakistan government prepares to meet with the International Monetary Fund on Monday to assess the economic impact of the three weeks of floods, a British doctor tells Channel 4 News he is sending over £1m of medical supplies to help the homeless victims.
The International Monetary Fund will hold talks with Pakistan on Monday to assess the economic impact of the floods and discuss ways to help.
Today, India donated three million pounds worth of aid. But Pakistan still stands accused of doing too little too slowly and people outside the country are raising money at grassroots level.
One British doctor from Luton is organising a million pounds worth of hospital supplies which he plans to take to Pakistan himself.
Dr Muhammed Nasir is sending the medical equipment which includes surgical gloves, masks and syringes. There is enough antibiotics to treat 16,000 children. He will begin in Sindh Province tomorrow.
Dr Nasir flies out to Pakistan on Sunday to deliver the equipment to hospitals and field clinics in Sindh, Swat and Punjab. He told Channel 4 News he hopes his equipment will help the millions of homeless.
He said: "They're going to get ill. They're going to get diseases. They're going to suffer. So this stuff will be quite handy for the local hospitals, local clinics, makeshift hospitals.
"These are all disposable products for general hospital use so it will come of use to them. I'm sure they will re-use them there, but that's how it goes. At least they're better than what they don't have there.
"I can't stop this addiction you know, if you see people suffering, no matter which part of the world it is, you really feel pain in your own heart. You really feel like they're crying and you're crying. You feel like you're part of them. You should go out and help them.
"Maybe I'm a doctor and that feeling comes from that kind of aspect too. But at the end of the day I'm a human being too.
"We have put a lot of effort into this together and I really want it to go into the right hands and to be used for the right people. It gives me a personal satisfaction and I can come back and report to the people who have donated and say 'look it's gone into the right hands'."
Read more from Jonathan Miller on the floods in Pakistan:
- Emergency aid 'not reaching' flood-hit Pakistan
- 'Four million' at risk from Pakistan floods
- '12 million' directly hit by Pakistan floods
- Pakistan floods: desperation as rain continues
- Pakistan floods: military steps up rescue effort
- Pakistan floods: victim number exceeds tsunami
- More rain as Pakistan floods sweep south
More floods
Rising flood waters in southern Pakistan has forced residents to flee.
Authorities struggled to shore up an embankment holding back a growing tide on the edge of Shahdadkot in Sindh Province. Aid groups say Sindh is still highly vulnerable to the floods that have crippled Pakistan for three weeks.
Trucks, tractors and donkey carts transported people away to safety.
One resident Riaz Hussain said: "People are saying it's dangerous to stay. I'll find some corner to live with my family."
The floods are spreading through the rice-growing belt in the north of Sindh, breaking through or flowing over embankments.
Isolated rain was expected in parts of central Punjab, southern Sindh and northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces in the next 24 hours.
How to donate
To make a donation to the DEC Pakistan appeal call the 24 hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, visit http://www.dec.org.uk or donate over the counter at any post office or high street bank, or send a cheque.
You can also donate £5 by texting the word GIVE to 70707.
The International Monetary Fund said it would review Pakistan's budget and economic prospects in light of the disaster during talks with government officials on Monday. The talks will focus on a $10bn IMF programme agreed in 2008.
The agriculture industry has been damaged by the floods, raising the possibility of long-term damage to a pillar of the economy.
IMF director for the Middle East and Central Asia Masood Ahmed said: "The scale of the tragedy means that the country's budget and macroeconomic prospects, where are being supported by an IMF financed programme, will need to be reviewed."
The government has been criticised and accused of being slow to respond to the crisis, as Islamist charities, some suspected to have links with militant groups, have moved in rapidly to provide relief to Pakistanis.
Some analysts have predicted food riots or possible social unrest as Pakistanis fight for aid.
The US is eager to ensure stability in a frontline state in the fight against militancy and have sent helicopters and aid.
The EU is expected to urge countries next month to support trade breaks for Pakistan as concerns grow about the impact of the floods on the stability of a country that has failed to break Taliban insurgents with a series of offensives.
Half a million people are living in about 5,000 schools where poor hygiene and sanitation, along with cramped quarters and the stifling heat, provide fertile ground for potentially fatal diseases such as cholera.
The UN has warned that up to 3.5 million children could be in danger of contracting deadly diseases carried through contaminated water and insects.
Flood victim Zainab Bibi complained that her family urgently need food and water. "We have received nothing. We fled with nothing. Now our children are suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea," she said.
On the edge of Shahdadkot, authorities were using heavy equipment to reinforce an embankment holding the water back as residents escaped. An old man cradled an elderly woman, who appeared to be sick, in the back of an auto-rickshaw.
