Injured IDPs under Ministry care - Health Ministry

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry is in full control in handling injured IDPs arriving in Trincomalee from Mullaitivu.

The capacity of Trincomalee General hospital is 500 beds and the extra patients have been transfered to Vavuniya, Mannar, Kantale and Medawachchiya hospitals to ensure they receive the best treatment, a Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

He said on Wednesday night 386 injured IDPs arrived in the Trincomalee hospital and 100 of them were transferred to the Mannar Hospital for further treatment.

Around 100 patients with infectious diseases such as Chickenpox have been reported from welfare camps and the Ministry has made arrangements to treat such persons at Puwarasankulam Base Hospital.

The Ministry has supplied 120 nurses, 32 doctors, 15 specialist doctors to serve the injured and eight midwives have been assigned to Vavuniya Hospital. Each welfare camp has a PHI and Midwife.

These medical staff have been deployed in addition to the normal staff of those hospitals, he added.

The Ministry has also made arrangements to keep lactating mothers and their newborns at Vavuniya Ayurvedic Hospital for some time to prevent them getting infected with diseases.

This hospital has been taken over by the Ministry to accommodate mothers and infants with special care, he said.