Doctors in India and Pakistan are campaigning against the threat of nuclear war between the two countries.
The campaigns have been spearheaded by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and its affiliates, and the group has sent a letter to the Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf.
The letter warns that the countries' nuclear arsenals are “capable of destroying both countries as functional societies.” The letter, signed by the president of IPPNW, Ronald McCoy, and the heads of its Indian and Pakistani affiliates, cautions that there can be no effective medical response to the catastrophe that would follow a nuclear attack on cities such as Mumbai or Karachi.
A study from Princeton University has indicated that a 150 kilotonne nuclear weapon exploded over these cities could kill more than eight million people within days and generate thousands of cases of cancer in the future.
The organisation will publish a report on the impact of a regional nuclear war on the medical infrastructures in India and Pakistan later this month.
“We want doctors to help build public opinion which in turn might influence policy makers,” said Dr Arun Mitra, general secretary of Indian Doctors for Peace, an affiliate of IPPNW.
Pakistani doctors have called on the leaders of India and Pakistan to scale down tension and divert spending from war to the wellbeing of the two countries.
At a peace convention in Karachi last week, peace activist Dr Haroon Ahmed said it was “sheer madness” to spend a colossal amount on means of destruction while millions of people were being deprived of education, sanitation, and other essential services. He said that if war broke out it would not remain localised.
Pakistan Doctors for Peace and Development and the Pakistan Medical Association have organised seminars and exhibitions to raise public awareness. The IPPNW regional vice president, Dr Tipu Syed Sultan, regretted that people in Pakistan knew little about the devastating consequences of a nuclear war.
Figure.
AP PHOTO/CHANNI ANANAD
A doctor treats Vaishno Devi, 13, injured by cross fire