IOM scales up Rohingya healthcare operations


FE Team | Published: December 11, 2017 21:53:01 | Updated: December 12, 2017 13:40:50


IOM scales up Rohingya healthcare operations

The UN migration agency International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has scaled up its healthcare operations.

IOM now runs 13 health posts and one primary healthcare centre for Rohingya people in Cox's Bazar area, reports UNB.

The migration agency has been providing healthcare to Rohingyas and local Bangladeshis living in the coastal district since 2013, reports UNB.

It also supports nine government health facilities and works with over 350 community health workers - making it one of the largest health responders on the ground.

"Initially, those who crossed the border were traumatised in every aspect, particularly with regards to health," the IOM quoted Civil Surgeon Dr Md Abdus Salam, responsible for overseeing healthcare in the Cox's Bazar district, as saying.

He said most were injured - bullet injuries, mine blasts and sexual assaults -- and they were also poorly immunised and malnourished.

"Our partners, including IOM, also deployed more than 30 medical teams to respond to the urgent health needs of those crossing the border," Dr Salam said.

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