IRAN SENDS 500 DOCTORS, NURSES AND RELIEF WORKERS TO PAKISTAN

Iran sends 500 doctors, nurses and relief workers to Pakistan
07/09/2010
		Iran sends 500 doctors, nurses and relief workers to Pakistan TEHRAN - Iran has sent 500 physicians, nurses and relief workers to neighboring Pakistan to provide medical services to flood-stricken people, Interior Minister Mostafa-Mohammad Najjar said. These people will stay in Pakistan for 40 days, Najjar told reporters upon his arrival in Tehran following a three-day trip to Pakistan, MNA reported. He said that Iran had sent more 40,000 tents to Pakistan in addition to the previous 10,000 ones because of an increase in demands. The interior minister noted the Islamic Republic will also send 10 other cargoes of humanitarian aid to Pakistan over the next few days. He went on to say that Iran\'s Red Crescent has set up a refugee camp in Pakistan and it is going to set up more camps in order to distribute foods, clothes and other necessary goods among the people. On reports that people from some affected areas might enter Iran, he said Iran\'s borders are very far away from those areas, however, it has been decided that some camps to be set up near Iran\'s borders inside Pakistan. So far, Iran has sent over 500 tons of humanitarian assistance to Pakistan, including tents, blankets, medicine, and food. The floods have ruined 3.6 million hectares (8.9 million acres) of fertile farmland, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said farmers urgently need seeds to plant for next year’s crops. The Pakistani government’s official death toll from the floods has reached 1,760, but disaster officials have said that number will likely rise ‘significantly’ when the missing are accounted for.