Emergency kits for basic bone surgery and skin grafts are part of 24.5 tonnes of medical help being sent by the World Health Organisation from its logistics hub in UAE’s Dubai on Tuesday, 28 June, to help victims in Afghanistan suffering due to earthquake.
The aid of $330,000 was loaded onto lorries at WHO warehouses in Dubai’s International Humanitarian City (IHC) on Monday, 27 June, to be flown to Afghanistan’s Kabul, from where it will be disseminated to help people in the eastern provinces of Khost and Paktika where a 6.1 magnitude of the earthquake that occurred on last Wednesday killed over 1000 and injured at least 1400 while leaving hundreds and thousands of people homeless.
It includes non-communicable disease (NCD) kits and testing equipment for cholera, the probably fatal gastrointestinal infection that officials fear might spread quickly amid a lack of safe water supplies as well as proper sanitation.
The operational manager of the WHO Logistics Hub in Dubai, Nivien Attalla, said they were in coordination with their team in Afghanistan per minute who are the ones who requested these kits. Once the items arrive, the charter will be offloaded instantly, and lorries will be prepared to take the various supplies to hospitals and clinics in Afghanistan.
This is the first shipment of the WHO from Dubai for the earthquake victims, but just a small part of the world’s relief efforts is carried out by the UN agency and the IHC.
Tuesday’s shipment of help is possible to be followed by more, said IHC chief executive Giuseppe Saba.
He stated that once a full assessment of the situation is completed, everybody knows there will be a second wave of humanitarian aid that will be shipped.
Saba also said that Afghanistan is presently the IHC’s number one priority.
Last week, the United Arab Emirates sent medical supplies, food and aid to Afghanistan after President Sheikh Mohamed asked for an air bridge to be set up for the relief effort.