The UN migration agency has inaugurated two new healthcare facilities for the Rohingya refugees and the host community in Cox’s Bazar.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched the Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Isolation and Treatment Centers (SARI ITC) in collaboration with the office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC).
The SARI ITC, equipped to properly and with dignity treat those infected with Covid-19, have been set up at the Teknaf and Ukhia upazila in Cox’s Bazar, said a press statement of IOM Bangladesh on Sunday.
Of the two new specialised Covid-19 healthcare facilities, 47 SARI ITC beds are currently available, and capacity will increase to a total of 110 beds as facilities ramp up operations in July.
The two centres contribute to IOM's comprehensive humanitarian effort in the district and will soon be complemented by a 120-bed SARI ITC in Camp 20E inside the Kutupalong camp.
"The opening of 47 SARI ITC beds is only a small visible part of the larger planned effort for the 250-bed capacity SARI ITC - planned by the Government of Bangladesh and the Health Sector,” said Dr. Samir Howlader, for IOM Emergency Health Programme in Cox's Bazar.
In addition to ITCs, IOM is contributing in other ways including contact tracing, home-based care referral and risk communication in the community, he added.
As of June 27, 47 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the Rohingya settlements.
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