After declining aid, Pakistan considers importing mosquito nets from India amid malaria outbreak

Pakistan now faces a new challenge in addition to the ongoing floods that have severely damaged its infrastructure and claimed well over a thousandlives.

Flood-ravaged regions of the nation are reeling under the threat of flood-borne diseases like malaria.As per a tweet by a senior Pakistani journalist, the nation is now considering the import of 71 lakh mosquito nets from its neighbouring nation, India.

Watch |Pakistan floods death toll nears 1,500

Senior journalist Ghulam Abbas Shah claims that Pakistan's health ministry is seeking permission for the import.

"After the spread of malaria in #Pakistan, the ministry of health asked the government of Pakistan for permission to buy mosquito nets from #India. There is an urgent need for 71 lakh mosquito nets in 26 districts of Pakistan," tweeted Shah.

He further claimed that in the past two months, two lakh people have contracted malaria in the flood-affected Sindh and Balochistan, with 22 per cent of those cases being of the plasmodium falciparum kind.

This comes amid reports that Pakistani officials hadrefused relief supplies from India, a neighbour with whom it has a tense relationship, despite the country's ongoing request for international assistance. As per the Indian Narrative, the nation also refused aid from Bangladesh, claiming that the move can negatively impact Pakistan's "global image".

As per a Reuters report, authorities said on Wednesday that 324 people had died from skin diseases, diarrhoea, and malaria in several of Pakistan's flood-ravaged districts. They also warned that if necessary relief doesn't arrive, the situation might spiral out of control.

The temporary medical facilities and mobile clinics in the flooded areas have treated more than 78,000 patients in the past 24 hours and more than 2 million since July 1, said the southern Sindh provincial government.

(With inputs from agencies)

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