Medics with the UN Migration Agency (IOM) have now carried out more than 400,000 consultations in Cox’s Bazar since late August 2017 when hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas started fleeing into the area to escape violence in Myanmar.
Nine months after the influx of new arrivals began, bringing the total number of Rohingyas in the area to almost one million, IOM is one of the largest medical care providers in Cox Bazar, supporting patients from the Rohingyas and local communities with medical concerns ranging from pregnancy related complications to injuries from road traffic accidents.
In the past four months alone, IOM has carried out over 4,300 consultations relating to accident and injury, an IOM press release said, reports BSS.
More than one in 10 consultations conducted in IOM clinics were with children under the age of five. In the past four months, IOM staff have conducted over 13,000 ante-natal consultations and assisted over 700 local and Rohingya women deliver their babies safely, including via caesarian section (C-section).
Without urgent financial backing, these services will soon be brought to a halt. And with months of monsoon rains about to create even more health hazards for the refugee population, medical staffs are ready to see an even bigger demand for their services.
“Conducting 400,000 curative consultations in nine months is an immense achievement that shows the crucial role of IOM medical facilities for the Rohingya and local communities. But without urgent funding we won’t be able to carry on,” said IOM’s Emergency Coordinator in Cox’s Bazar Manuel Periera.
“If that happens, hundreds of thousands of cases will likely be left untreated in the months ahead and we face the grim possibility of many avoidable deaths,” he added.
And according to Dr. Mohammad Abdus Salam, Civil Surgeon of Cox’s Bazar district, “IOM is doing a massive work in addressing the health issues of Rohingyas and host communities. We highly appreciate their contribution in assisting the government to address the health crisis that affected the district following the August influx.”
IOM’s clinics and medical staff play a key role in Cox’s Bazar in overseeing referrals and ambulance transfers. The patients, whatever condition they present with, are taken to whichever clinic or hospital in the area is best suited to meet their particular needs.
Dr Raisul Islam, who has worked at Kutupalong PHCC since before the influx, was one of the doctors involved in the referral of the expectant mother. “At the start of the influx many of the new arrivals came with injuries relating to violence such as gunshot wounds, burns, blasts, and gender based violence. These kinds of cases have decreased, but there’s been no reduction in the number of patients we’re seeing,” he said.
“Now we are likely to have even more cases, because of the probable increase of acute watery diarrhea and even cholera during monsoon. However as long as we have enough funding IOM is prepared to combat such difficult situations as we did successfully during the diphtheria outbreak,” Dr. Islam added.
Ongoing vaccination, standby mobile medical teams, and health education outreach programmes conducted by IOM continue to play a vital role in preventing disease outbreaks. Any reduction or cessation of these services would have a devastating effect on the health system in the camps.
“I am immensely proud of the hard work of all our IOM staff on the ground providing life-saving and day to day medical care day and night for months on end to a population in desperate need of support,” said Dr. Andrew Mbala, IOM’s Health Emergency Coordinator in Cox’s Bazar.
“But we are now facing the desperate situation that the good work we’ve been doing could soon be brought to a standstill because of funding shortages and our patients left to suffer conditions which if left untreated could lead to avoidable deaths. This is a tragedy in the making which can be averted, but only if we receive urgent funding,” he added.