To support ongoing relief efforts in Pakistan after record flooding there, Direct Relief is delivering this week more than $762,000 in medical material aid to Bethania Hospital in Sialkot and has recently facilitated in-country deliveries of $49,000 in requested products from Abbott.

Bethania Hospital, in addition to their ongoing work at their base hospital facility, is also actively engaged in the flood response and aid efforts.  It is operating a medical mobile unit and providing medicines, lab tests, and examinations to people who have been displaced and affected by floods. The shipment to Bethania Hospital contains 60 different pharmaceuticals, supplies, and equipment to support these activities.

Direct Relief has also facilitated delivery of three shipments from Abbott in Pakistan to two healthcare partners responding to the flooding. The American Refugee Committee (ARC) and Marie Stopes Society -Pakistan has received specifically requested antibiotics, anti-infectives, anti-inflammatory drugs, and nutritional products. In-country shipment of these products expedites their delivery to partners and ultimately the patients who need them.

“It could not have come at a better time,” said Jill McGrath Jones, program director at ARC Pakistan, of Direct Relief’s donation. “We visited IDP camps yesterday, and the conditions here are dire. This is a life-saving donation, believe me.”

Partners in Pakistan report that several areas are still underwater after late summer drenching rains and flooding, and skin and chest infections are increasing.  ARC is operating a total of 23 health facilities and four mobile teams in Pakistan, ranging from Swat in the north to the Sibi District in Baluchistan in the South. Healthcare teams are providing a range of crucial services, including maternal and child healthcare, malaria treatment, and psychological support for trauma victims.