LAHORE Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that eradication of epidemic diseases in the flood-hit areas is the top priority of the government and all resources are being utilized for this purpose. He has also said that water filtration plants will be installed for providing clean drinking water to the affectees and spray will be carried out through fogging machines to curb the spread of epidemics and other diseases. The CM has directed immediate restoration of water supply and sewerage system in the flood-hit areas. The CM said this while presiding over a meeting regarding checking of viral diseases in the flood-hit areas at Multan Airport on Wednesday. Besides representatives of World Health Organisation and UNICEF, officials of Pak Army and federal and provincial health departments also attended the meeting. Provincial Minister for Auqaf Haji Ehsan-ud-Din Qureshi, MPAs Waheed Arain and Aamir Saeed Ansari were also present on this occasion. Appreciating the steps taken by the Health Department for provision of medical facilities to the affectees, the CM said that all departments need to make coordinated efforts for the service to humanity because, like rehabilitation of flood affectees, protecting them from epidemic diseases was also a big challenge. He said that there was no substitute for human life and all available resources would be provided to the affected districts for eradicating viral diseases. The CM said that government had taken all possible steps for the rescue and relief of affectees and food and bottles of mineral water had been provided to them. He said that chlorination of water was being carried out in the second phase and water was being provided through tankers in far-flung areas whereas water filtration plants with modern technology of reverse osmosis were being installed in brackish water areas and first plant of such kind had been installed in Rojhan, district Rajanpur. Shahbaz Sharif said that the spray would be carried out in flood-hit areas for eradicating malaria and other diseases and ten fogging machines, ten mounted vehicles and dozen of manual spray machines had been purchased for this purpose. He said that government was also arranging such machines for purification of water which can be easily shifted from one place to another. The Chief Minister directed the Health Department that the teams working in various districts for controlling gastro, cholera, malaria and measles should be further activated and work for collecting samples from various areas and results from the laboratories should be accelerated so that any threat of spreading epidemics could immediately be eradicated and services of laboratories of eight medical colleges of the province should also be obtained for this purpose. He directed Health and Local Government Departments to immediately burry the dead animals in the flood-hit areas to avoid viral diseases. He lauded the role of World Health Organisation in flood-hit areas and thanked its representatives for providing three mobile hospitals, thousands kits for investigation of malaria and new machinery in place of damaged machinery in flood-hit areas. He said that process of return of flood-affectees had started, therefore, UNICEF, instead of flood relief camps, should construct 500 public toilets at various places in flood-hit areas. He also asked the representatives of WHO and UNICEF to get freely the feedback regarding epidemic diseases and prepare a plan to cope with it so that performance of the government could be reviewed. He also appreciated the plan of Health Department and directed immediate implementation on it.