Eight die as doctors strike work in flood-hit Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - A strike by doctors in the flood-hit Muzaffargarh district in Pakistan’s Punjab province has led to the death of at least eight people who could not receive timely medical care, a media report said Wednesday.

Doctors and paramedical staff at the district headquarters hospital in Muzaffargarh went on strike, leaving the flood-affected people to fend for themselves. Eight people who did not receive any medical care at the hospital, died Wednesday, Geo News reported.

Pakistan is grappling with one of the worst ever floods in the country, which has affected over 20 million people.

The UN Wednesday said it has secured around half of the $460 million it requires in emergency assistance for flood victims in the country.

“We have received $208 million and that makes 42.5 percent of the funds initially required,” Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Pakistan, was quoted as saying by DPA.

“In addition to that we have some pledges and that makes the total funds secured at 54.5 percent,” Giuliano said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, after visiting the flood-affected areas during the weekend, described the situation as the worst natural disaster he had ever seen.