JNN 25.08.10 Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to visit flood-ravaged Pakistan in the near future, as the United Nations continues calling on governments for assistance.

“Due to the severity of the disaster, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to visit Pakistan to make decisions required to better supply relief to the victims,” Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on Wednesday.

The minister further added that the Islamic Republic would use all its facilities to help the survivors of the disaster in Pakistan.

“The survivors are prone to infectious diseases which may spread to neighboring states; therefore, precautionary measures should be adopted,” Najjar went on to say.

Iran, which was among the first countries to send aid to Pakistan, has so far dispatched 330 tons of humanitarian aid, including food, water, medicine and tents to its eastern neighbor.

Deadly rains in Pakistan left more than 1,600 people dead and affected 20 million lives within 25 days. The disaster is far from over as the country braces itself for a fresh wave of floods in the country’s south.

Floodwaters have surged deeper into areas of Sindh province in southern Pakistan. More rains have been forecast for several parts of the flood-stricken country.

The deputy consul general of Iran in Pakistan has visited flood-stricken areas of the country to assess how to provide medical services to the affected people.

Hadi Sheikh Ghafouri, accompanied by a team of doctors, visited Sukkur town in southern Pakistan, where he was briefed about relief and rescue work and medical assistance provided to the people of the district and the surrounding areas of Sindh province, a Press TV correspondent reported Thursday.

The envoy offered his sympathy to the Pakistani victims and said the Iranian government will provide Islamabad with medical assistance.

“Medicines, field hospitals and public health teams will be provided to the flood affected people of Sukkur,” he went on to say.

More than 1,600 Pakistanis have lost their lives in the heavy floods that have hit nearly one fifth of the country.

Iran was among the first countries to send aid to Pakistan as the UN was calling for aid for the victims.

Iran’s Ambassador to Islamabad, Mashallah Shakeri, said on Wednesday that Iran has so far sent more than 400 tons of humanitarian supplies including tents, blankets, food stuff and medication to the country.

Shakeri said that a team of seven Iranian doctors were in Pakistan to assess the medical needs, adding that Iran would also establish three field hospitals in the country.

The situation caused by the floods is worsening as hunger, lack of hygiene and drinking water, and the threat of an epidemic have put lives of many Pakistanis at risk.