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PESHAWAR, Nov 01 (APP):Climate change is redrawing Pakistan’s epidemiological map and is demanding a new kind of preparedness within the medical community.
These views were expressed by Dr Khalid Khan, an advocate for Climate-Resilient Health Systems and Sustainable Futures, who also heads Planet Pulse while speaking at a seminar at Khyber Medical College (KMC), Peshawar.
The title of the seminar was Climate, Calamity, and Care – Building Resilient Health Systems in a Warming World.
Addressing the faculty, doctors, and students of Khyber Medical College on how climate change is fast becoming the greatest public health challenge of our time, Dr Khalid said every disaster is a health emergency.
Every flood, drought, or heatwave brings an epidemic in its wake.
Hospitals are not only first responders, they are often first victims.
Dr Khalid said Pakistan ranks among the top 10 most climate-vulnerable countries in the world.
The 2022 floods affected 33 million people, displaced over 8 million, destroyed or rendered 1,700+ health facilities non-functional, and caused losses exceeding $30 billion, he added.
Beyond the physical destruction came a surge in malaria, dengue, diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, and malnutrition, all climate-linked health crises.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat, Nowshera, and Charsadda remain particularly exposed to floods, landslides, and heat stress.
Yet our healthcare system’s preparedness remains fragile as hospitals lack climate-resilient infrastructure and backup systems.
Similarly, health staff are rarely trained in disaster medicine or climate-related disease management, he added.
Surveillance systems and early warning networks are underdeveloped.
Emergency supplies, communication lines, and mobility plans are often inadequate when calamity strikes.
To match these challenges, Dr. Khalid Khan suggested resilient Infrastructure through building hospitals that can withstand floods, heatwaves, and power breakdowns, besides ensuring green energy backup, safe water, and waste systems.
He also proposed training every doctor and nurse as a climate physician, capable of recognizing, managing, and preventing climate-induced illnesses and stress-related disorders.
Strengthen local awareness, first aid, early warning response, and integrate community health workers into climate adaptation networks, he went on to say.
Preparedness plans must be multi-hazard and integrated. Investments should prioritize prevention over response, Dr. Khalid emphasized.
He said climate change, planetary health, and disaster medicine need to become part of the core curriculum.
Future doctors will not only treat patients – they will heal communities and ecosystems.
The healthcare sector can and must lead the transition from reactive care to climate resilience, from disease treatment to planetary healing, he continued.
While concluding, Dr Khalid remarked that “Healing the planet is now part of healing humanity.”