MUZAFFARABAD: The Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir Chaudhary Anwar-ul-Huq has announced free medical facilities for appendix patients, including free surgery and medicine, at Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) Hospital in Muzaffarabad, in response to the rising number of appendicitis cases in the Hariala Gujran area.
The suffering of families and patients affected is a big relief as the funds will be provided to both financially relieve the individuals and allow access to appropriate healthcare when required.
The underlying situation in Hariala Gujran has been devastating where just in a couple of days 216 cases of appendicitis have come into the picture with 16 having already undergone surgical intervention.
The Prime Minister has directed the Secretary of Public Health, Brigadier Farid, to provide these free medical facilities to all appendix patients at AIIMS Hospital, and separate beds have been allocated for appendicitis patients.
A health emergency has been declared in the affected area, which reflects the government’s commitment to addressing the crisis and preventing further suffering for the people of Hariala Gujran.
That declaration gave the authorities the capacity to mobilize more resources and personnel to support the affected area, hence ensuring that all essential measures were taken to contain the situation. The Prime Minister’s prompt response to the crisis is a welcome move, and it’s hoped that it will help mitigate the suffering of the affected patients and their families.
It’s great that the free medical facility setup and health emergency declaration have created a step further for dealing with appendix infections in Hariala Gujran. People expect to get relief through the efforts made by the government to rescue both the patient’s family and affected family members, due to which their situation might now see positive turnarounds by a probable halt in this sickness within days.
An investigating medical team is formed to find out the root causes of this appendicitis outbreak, along with the quality of the drinking water in the area.
This investigation is very crucial because it will help identify the root cause of the problem and enable the authorities to take targeted measures to prevent similar outbreaks in the future.
The team is supposed to submit its report to the Secretary to Public Health by February 3, which will give invaluable insight into the causes that led to the outbreak and inform the development of strategies about the same.
A long overdue welcome measure is the prompt response from the Prime Minister and the health authorities, hopefully, to contain the situation and prevent further suffering of the people of Hariala Gujran.
As this situation unfolds, it is also important that authorities remain vigilant and take all the necessary measures so that such an outbreak does not occur again.
