For the past 13 days, Md. Naseemullah Khan, a retired professor of General Medicine at the Government Nizamia General Hospital, popularly known as Unani Hospital, has been giving free consultations to residents of areas which were hit hard by the recent flooding in the city. He, along with a team of paramedic volunteers, have been helping to screen scores of such people in medical camps across the city.

“I have seen that 50-80 out of the 450-500 patients I interacted with are showing signs of fungal infections. Most of them have infections such as scabies. This is because the residents of flooded areas were moving in contaminated or unclean water. We are seeing this infection largely in the feet, and have been giving medical consultations to these people here in association with the Helping Hand Foundation,” Dr Khan, who retired on August 31 this year, says.

Dr Khan, now 58 years old, has a team of paramedic volunteers who are trained to check temperature, blood pressure and other vitals of patients. “A lot of people here have common cold, blood pressure, cough, diarrhoea and viral fever. We are helping them with medicine as well,” he says, adding that those with health complications need to see specialists. He is also joined by post-graduate and undergraduate doctors from the Government Nizamia General Hospital.

So far, Dr Khan and his team have carried out free consultations at HHF-organised medical camps in areas such as Talabkatta, Aman Nagar A, B and C, Osman Nagar, and some parts of Baba Nagar, which were flooded after the Gurram Cheruvu bund broke. According to HHF, nearly 12,400 persons have been screened and provided free medicines.