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Sri Lanka: Over 10,000 evacuated from conflict zone
since February
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The ICRC-chartered ferries Green Ocean and Seruvila have made a total of 23 trips, each carrying more than 400 people, to Trincomalee and Pulmoddai in government-controlled areas.
"These evacuations have saved many lives,” said Morven Murchinson, the ICRC’s medical coordinator in Sri Lanka.
“It is vital that they continue because more sick and wounded people are arriving every day at the makeshift medical facilities in Putumattalan, which lack the staff and supplies needed for adequate care." The evacuations had been possible, she said, thanks to the commitment of Ministry of Health staff and to support from the civilian and military authorities, as well as the local community.
Civilians in the conflict zone continue to be at risk owing to the extremely poor security conditions there.
The few remaining medical facilities in the area, all makeshift, have been directly affected by the fighting, with both staff and patients killed and wounded in recent days.
Some of the people involved in the evacuations, including ICRC personnel, have been injured while helping patients to board the ferries.
Along with the acute shortage of vital medical supplies, unsanitary conditions greatly increase the risk of wound infections.
The ICRC has been striving relentlessly to increase the amount of urgently needed medical supplies and sanitation equipment reaching the trapped population.
An ICRC surgeon, anaesthetist and nurse have been looking after the patients while they are on the ferry.
They have also been helping Ministry of Health personnel who treat those arriving at Trincomalee hospital.
The organization has also been helping other hospitals in the north cope with the unusually large influx of patients.
At Padaviya and Mannar hospitals, the ICRC has constructed shelters to accommodate an additional 500 beds.
Together with volunteers from the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, it has distributed personal hygiene kits, baby-care parcels, emergency household items and kitchen utensils to sick and injured evacuees.
In its role as a neutral intermediary and as an independent humanitarian organization, the ICRC has repeatedly facilitated the movement of humanitarian aid and of injured and sick persons between areas held by the LTTE and government-controlled territory.
For more information, please contact:
Florian Westphal, ICRC Geneva, tel.
+41 22 730 22 82 or +41 79 217 32 80
Sarasi Wijeratne, ICRC Colombo, tel.
+94 11 250 33 46 or +94 773 1588 44
See also ICRC media contacts
This article on www.icrc.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
