PESHAWAR, Dec 27: Workers engaged in relief activities in quake-hit areas of the province are increasingly falling ill due to severe cold and lack of residential facilities, doctors and health workers told Dawn. “I went Balakot thrice. Last time I went there on December 5 and returned the next day. As soon as I reached Peshawar, I developed chest infection associated with sever cold”, said, Sher Qasim, who is now lying in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Khyber Hospital as a pneumonia patient.

Mr Qasim, dispenser at the KTH who had gone to Balakot on October 8 to set up a KTH field hospital there, said that they had been providing medical aid to 250 patients per day. According to doctors, he was given bed in a private room on December 10 but his condition deteriorated and he had to be shifted to the ICU on December 15 when he went into coma.

Later he was shifted to Al-Shifa International Hospital Islamabad where he was diagnosed as having pulmonary embolism.

“I have already spent Rs1, 50,000 on my treatment. I borrowed this money from my friends and relatives. The government has not extended any help to me”, he added.

Besides Mr Qasim, Dr Zafar Afridi, deputy medical superintendent (DMS) of the KTH who established a field hospital with the financial assistance of Mohammad Shah Afridi had also remained bed-ridden for seven days due to chest congestion.

“I am a frequent visitor there but our staff, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, perform round-the-clock duty”, he said adding that the field hospital was inaugurated by the chief minister on December 5 and its daily expenditures were being borne by philanthropists.

Another dispenser Shamsul Islam of the same hospital has fallen sick due to chest infection and is undergoing treatment.

Fida Mohammad Khan, a health worker, said he remained bed-ridden for three days after arrival from Balakot two weeks ago.

“Severe cold and lack proper residential facilities make things worse. Neither the provincial government nor local administration bothers to help health workers, but we do help our brethren in crucial times, and it is only to seek pleasure of Allah Almighty”, he added.

Every health worker visiting quake-ravaged areas has his/her own story to narrate. Staff nurse Nausheen, who had gone Mansehra along with two doctors and two nurses to provided medical aid to women patients, said: “We used to sleep in tents even in extreme cold. On return, I developed fever and now I am taking heavy doses of anti-biotic medicines”. Her colleague Nazia has similar complaint and also undergoing treatment.

Mohammad Ajmal, a health worker, said that the relief workers had now begun leaving the area because of extremely rough weather.

He said he had been there for one week but the government did not do anything for their well-being.