UNFPA provides ambulance, improves healthcare for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar
By bdnews24.com
May 28, 2017
The United Nations Population Fund or UNFPA has provided a new ambulance and inaugurated the improved primary healthcare services for the Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar camps.
The ambulance handed over to an NGO, Research, Training and Management (RTM) International, on Sunday will ensure that the refugees living in two camps, as well as host communities, can access lifesaving treatment in the case of a medical emergency, the UN agency said.
Kutupalong and Nayapara camps host hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. The Myanmar government denied the citizenship of the Muslim minority group.
With the new ambulance, the UNFPA said a total of four ambulances are now available to transport critical cases from the refugee camps to the district hospital or NGO-run clinics.
Apart from local administrators, UNHCR Country Representative Shinji Kubo, UNFPA Chief of Health Dr Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy and RTM International President Dr Ahmed-Al Kabir were present during the handover ceremony.
They also celebrated the newly integrated health services available at the primary healthcare centre.
The integrated health centre, a joint effort by UNHCR and UNFPA, will now provide refugees with sexual and reproductive healthcare and maternity and newborn care -- all in one space.
Four midwives, recruited by UNFPA, will ensure that women are taken care of in a professional manner throughout their pregnancy and at the time of delivery.
The healthcare centre also includes an adolescent health corner where young people receive information and services specifically targeted for their needs.
The same model of services is also available in Nayapara refugee camp in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar.
Since 2008, UNFPA has been providing assistance to RTM to implement comprehensive lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services in Nayapara and Kutupalong areas in Cox’s Bazar district.
The overall objective of the assistance is to reduce maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity among refugees, the UN agency said.
