Alberta physician heads to Pakistan to help flood ravaged country

An Airdrie physician said she can no longer “stand idly by” while people in her home country of Pakistan suffer from the ongoing floods.

Dr. Fozia Alvi is putting her practice on hold and has decided to fly to the flood-ravished country on Friday to meet with other doctors operating a mobile clinic run by Humanity Auxilium.

“It’s not a short-term solution,” said Dr. Alvi. “In the immediate, the goal is to provide food, first of all, clean water and medical relief to the stranded people.”

Dr. Alvi is calling it an unprecedented situation and “one of the largest humanitarian crises” that they’ve ever seen.

Along with medical supplies, the Humanity Auxilium founder will bring her medical expertise to the distressed country in hopes to provide medical relief to the many people suffering from infections and diseases caused by the stagnant water.

“A lot of water borne illnesses are on the rise and people aren’t able to clean water,” said Dr. Alvi.

According to doctors, more than one-third of the country is underwater and more than 35 million people have been affected so far by the flooding.

2:13 Canadians answering Pakistan’s calls for aid to cope with devastating flooding

Dr. Zahid Latif, with the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, said the floods have crippled the Pakistan health care system and left many homeless, including children and pregnant women waiting for help.

“They are sitting on the sides of the roads,” said Dr. Latif. “Millions of people are surrounded by the flood water. They are practically in the water and they’re not having the basic necessity of life which is in the form of purified water.”

However, his concerns aren’t only the stagnant water.

“Mosquitoes, gangrene, malaria and ultimately the sutures will lead to some kind of communicable diseases and epidemics which may span over different areas.”

As punishing weather events, such as the flooding in Pakistan and the drought in China, continue to occur globally, Dr. Alvi says now is the time for answers.

“We should think about what is causing it,” she said. “It’s not hard to see that climate change is behind that, so as a community I think we should sit together and see what’s causing all of these extreme weather and temperatures.”