PESHAWAR: The health department has asked tehsil and district level hospitals to ensure availability of medicines and vaccines for cholera and rabies to manage dengue cases and control outbreak of water-borne diseases during monsoon season.

The local health intuitionshave been asked to work in unison with the district administration to provide prompt medical assistance to possible floodstricken people and ensure availability of vaccines, medicines and insulin ahead of monsoon, according to a notification of the health department.

The monsoon rains can pose risk of water-borne diseases among the affected population.

The affected people will need protection through vaccination against cholera, typhoid and vector-borne ailments.

The hospitals have asked to make available snakebite vaccine, insulin 70/30 and insulin regular besides getting pre-pared for coping with incidence of dengue and malaria.

Provincial Disaster Management Authority has also alerted that floods, starting from July 14, can inundate five low-lying districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while 10 other districts can experience soilerosion, which will cut off communication lines and disrupt medical supplies.

The health department has instructed all district health officers and medical superintendents to maintain appropriate stock of medicines for timely response to health emergencies to prevent outbreak of ailments due to expected heavy down-pours that could last till 17 July.

The notification said that the expected heavy rainstorm and landslide can result in disruption of transportation, which will have negative impact on medical supplies. According to it, inclement weather conditions can impede healthcare activities, especially availability of vaccines and medicines in remote and flood-prone areas.

It said that the required medicines and vaccines should be made available to avert any crisis. `Health staffers can face difficulties in maintenance of supply chain and provision of essential drugs, therefore, the public sector outlets need tohave adequate stock of vaccines and medicines to respond to diseases during the monsoon, said the notification.

Officials said that the instructions were issued in view of last year`s floods, which cut off the affected districts from other parts of the country and caused shortage of drugs. They said that effective inventory management at the level of facility could avoid shortage of medicines.

Healthcare facilities may experience enhanced demand for vaccines and pharmaceutical supplies to manage diseases in aftermath of flood.

The notification said that pri-ority should be given to prevention and control measures through vaccines and medicines. It has asked for readiness to tackle emergency situations such as injuries, accidents and outbreaks of water-borne diseases when medication is readily available.

`Need of medical aid vary from district to district during the monsoon and local health facilities are responsible to make plan to address their respective challenges and the most accurate and up-to-date information about the availability of vaccines and medicines during the monsoon season,` it said.Last year, the health department treated hundreds of acute water-borne cases due to use of contaminated water besides cases of snakebites, cholera, skin and food-borne and respiratory sicknesses. It established temporary hospitals in Swat and Kohistan as both the districts were hit hard by rain and floods.

`Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Charsadda, Swat, Chitral, Dir, Chitral, Shangla, Kohistan, Battagram, Torghar, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Kurram and Khyber are among the districts where risks are higher as per forecast,` said officials.