Help bureau set up:
Govt reunites IDP families
P. KRISHNASWAMY
Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has appointed a special team
of senior Government officials to reunite Internally Displaced families,
following reports that a large number of them had been separated from
their families during their escapade to Vavuniya and are now in a state
of psychological trauma, Health Ministry sources told the Sunday
Observer.
The team is now in Vavuniya collecting details of all families who
were separated in an effort to reunite them and this process will be
completed soon, the sources said. A ‘family-help bureau’has also been
set up to reunite those separated from their families.
The Health Ministry has also despatched a team of 207 doctors on
internship to hospitals in Mannar, Poovarasankulam, Vavuniya (Teaching
Hospital), Padaviya, Medawachchiya, Keppetigollawa, Anuradhapura and
Kurunegala where the sick and injured among the IDPs are being treated
to meet the shortage of doctors, the sources said adding that this was a
sequel to a cabinet paper submitted by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.
Over 170,000 civilians fled the Mullaitivu `No Fire Zone” braving
LTTE threats and of them about 150,000 are housed in 24 transit centres
and four welfare villages in Vavuniya and Chettikulam while the rest are
housed in centres in Jaffna and Mannar. The IDPs in Vavuniya are being
well looked after, with provision of shelter and other basic facilities.
About 200,000 residents of Vavuniya, the business community,
religious organisations, sports clubs, NGOs and INGOs have joined hands
with the Government in extending relief assistance, including parcels of
cooked food and drinking water, Government Secretariat sources said.
The field hospital that has been set up by the French Government at
Chettikulam in the vicinity of the Welfare villages is equipped with
about 50 beds and a team of about 60 medical staff including surgeons,
specialists and nurses.
A 100-bed hospital with a surgical team will be launched soon in the
vicinity of the Menik Farm welfare village with assistance from Medecins
Sans Frontieres and an MoU in this connection has been already signed.
The ICRC too has consented to provide a 100-bed hospital with all
facilities for the benefit of the IDPs and it will be built by the end
of this month, the sources said. |