Poor health facilities exacerbate bomb tolls in Pakistan
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Jan 6,IRNA -- The death toll from bombings across Pakistan in recent months has been exacerbated by the lack of health facilities, especially in rural areas, health officials say.
At least 1,180 people died in bomb blasts across Pakistan in 2009.
Some 79 of these bombings were suicide attacks, with most of them taking place in conflict-ravaged North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where the army continues to battle militants.
Two days after a suicide bombing that killed 105 people in Lakki Marwat District in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Hasan Marwat, 25, knows he is lucky to be alive.
The suicide bombing of a volley-ball game in the tiny village of Shah Hassankhel, close to Lakki Marwat town, was the worst attack in the province since a blast at a market in Peshawar in October 2009 killed 117 people.
The lack of a hospital or basic health facilities in Shah Hassankhel village added to the suffering of the hundreds of victims. According to official figures, there is one bed for every 1,517 people in Pakistan and one for every 1,654 in NWFP.
But in many villages, such as the one affected by the latest blast, there are virtually no facilities at all.
Most of the injured were rushed to the small Lakki Marwat Civil Hospital, a 30-minute drive from the village.
Pakistani Health Minister Ejaz Hussain Jhakrani told the media in Islamabad in October 2009 that "providing facilities for health to everyone in the country was a priority" but Pakistan spends just 2 percent of its gross domestic product on health -one of the lowest rates in the world.
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End News / IRNA / News Code 882170
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