PARACHINAR: At least 50 children have died in Parachinar due to the recent shortage of medicines caused by the closure of roads leading to the city in the aftermath of armed violence between warring tribes last month in the restive Kurram tribal district, officials said.
Thousands of people have been stranded in Parachinar because of clashes that have killed at least 130 people since last month.
Residents have reported food and medicine shortages in parts of the Kurram district, which borders Afghanistan, as the government struggles to end a reignited feud between tribes stemming from decades-old tensions over farmland.
Dr Zulfiqar Ali, a paediatrician at the DHQ Hospital in Parachinar, told Dawn.com today that 51 children in the city had died due to a “shortage of medicine”, adding that the situation was getting worse due to a lack of medical oxygen and heating apparatus.
Philanthropist Faisal Edhi corroborated the figure, stating that more than 50 children had died in the hospitals in Parachinar due to a lack of treatment.
Separately, at least 45 people in “critical condition” were moved to different hospitals in the provincial capital from Kurram via air ambulances over the past four days, Edhi Foundation official Saad Edhi said, adding that three dead were sent back to the conflict-ridden area.
Saad said that while the Edhi Foundation would continue to provide its services in the region, the problems in the city were not solvable via an air ambulance.
“The government should open the routes by tonight so that normalcy can be brought back to the area,” he said, adding that around 2,000kg worth of medicines supplies were delivered to the area.
Ali Hadi Irfani, an MPA from Kurram, also said that rather than concerning itself with “unnecessary decisions”, the government should immediately open transportation routes.
