Enhanced healthcare for IDPs
Nadira Gunatilleke
COLOMBO: Healthcare facilities will be expanded for the
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Eastern Province.
This follows a discussion held with the participation of Healthcare
and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva and Senior Presidential
Advisor Basil Rajapaksa.
The IDPs in the camps are hopeful that they would be resettled soon,
in their original villages.
The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry sources said that 88 IDP camps
function in the Eastern Province and there are about 143,000 Tamil,
Sinhala and Muslim people living in them with the expectation of
resettling in cleared areas soon.
There is no shortage of pharmaceuticals in this area. It was decided
to establish 15 medical teams each consisting of one doctor, two nurses,
one pharmacist, one midwife in this province.
The Vakarai hospital is functioning well and another doctor was given
to this hospital completing the entire number of doctors required by the
hospital.
The Valachchenai hospital, earlier designated as a rural hospital,
has now been upgraded to a base hospital. It was also decided to
implement a special nutrition programme in the Eastern Province to
increase the nutrition level of the people, especially pregnant mothers
and children.
In addition several International Organisations especially the World
Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF are working to improve health
facilities in the North East provinces under the guidance of the
Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry.
Arrangements will be taken shortly to meet drinking water
requirements, to establish a garbage disposal system and to increase
toilet facilities in the area with the coordination of the Urban
Councils.
Instructions have been given to Deputy Director General of Health
Services in Batticaloa and the Eastern Provincial Health Services
Director to maintain continuous health services to the IDPs until they
are relocated in their original homes. |