MANSEHRA/SWAT: A doctor who led a 14-member medical team to Dubair valley, which was hit by recent flash floods and is still cut off from rest of Lower Kohistan, on Sunday revealed that women there had been suffering from trauma and undergoing complicated delivery process in the hands of unskilled birth attendants.

`We had taken gastroenteritis medicines with us fearing the outbreak of the waterborne disease, but the situation on theground is more alarming as pregnant women couldn`t develop labour pain as they are passing through post-devastation trauma and are without healthcare services,` Dr Abdul Hadi told mediapersons.

Dr Hadi, who has returned to Pattan after spending a week in Dubair valley, said children were malnourished and suffering from skin diseases.

`Skin diseases are common and infants have boils on their skin, but it is unfortunate that medical teams couldn`t reach there as yet and the lone basic health unit in the area was washed away by floodwater, he said.

Dr Hadi said the elderly women, locally given the status of midwives, couldn`t handle the complicated delivery cases as owing to trauma the pregnant women couldn`tdevelop labour pain and the former didn`t know how to stimulate the phenomenon (labour) through tablets,` he said.

Dr Hadi said four to five families had been living jointly after their houses were washed away and this had contributed to the spread of skin diseases and gastroenteritis.

`The government should send medical teams to save the lives of the people in the valley,` he said.

In Swat, the Matta, Khwazakhela and Bahrain areas have been badly hit where people suffer from skin and stomach diseases.

To cater to the medical needs of floodstricken people in Matta tehsil a 25-member medical team of Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Peshawar, with the sup-port of medical society of Khyber Girls Medical College arranged a free medical camp in the rural health centre of Darmai village.

The camp was held under the supervision of HMC Peshawar administrator Dr Sher Zaman where doctors of about six specialties, including general medicine, general surgery, paeds, dermatology, ophthalmology and gynaecology, treated the patients.

The flood-hit people belonging to Darmai, Sakhra, Gabin Jabba and suburbs were provided treatment along with medicines and non-food items.

Dr Zaman said the floods had caused several waterborne diseases which must be addressed immediately.

`We have provided medical help to about 3,000 patients in two days,` he said.