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Pakistan: caring for people wounded by fighting along the Afghan border
30-03-2009 Photo gallery
Fighting along the northern stretch of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has intensified over the past eight months. Tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to leave the conflict zones to seek refuge in safer places, and the number of people wounded by the fighting has increased. The ICRC has stepped up its surgical and physical rehabilitation activities, particularly in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province.
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Fighting along the northern stretch of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has intensified over the past eight months. Tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to leave the conflict zones to seek refuge in safer places, and the number of people wounded by the fighting has increased. The ICRC has stepped up its surgical and physical rehabilitation activities, particularly in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province.
Nazir, 9, is one of the patients treated at the ICRC surgical hospital in Peshawar since February 2009. He comes from neighbouring Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where fighting has forced thousands of people to flee their villages.
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Many Afghans living in areas with poor surgery capacities are treated at the ICRC hospital in Pakistan.
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The number of war-wounded civilians treated by the ICRC in Peshawar has increased substantially since fighting intensified in August 2008. Today, they represent close to 70% of ICRC patients. Almost half are either women or children.
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Since February, the surgical teams have operated in a 60-bed field hospital provided by the Finnish Red Cross. It has operating theatres, an intensive care unit, a laboratory, X-ray equipment and physiotherapy facilities. The ICRC is currently renovating a permanent 100-bed hospital with a staff of 160, which will be functional later this year.
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Over the past eight months, ICRC teams have witnessed a sharp increase in the number of patients with weapon-inflicted wounds.
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ICRC doctors also train medical personnel from across the FATA in the management of weapon-wounded patients.
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With the number of weapon-wounded patients increasing, the need for adequate physical rehabilitation services in the region is growing. The ICRC supports several physical rehabilitation centres in Peshawar and in Quetta, further south along the Afghan border.
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Each centre produces and maintains artificial limbs and assistance devices. The ICRC is providing financial and technical support to the centres and helps train their staff.
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In addition to artificial limbs and orthotic devices, the Peshawar centre provides disabled people with free walking aids, crutches, wheelchairs and physiotherapy sessions.
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