Assam: Diseases rise in refugee camps

[Ronan Kelly]

Ailments intensify inmates' sense of loss
Naresh Mitra, TNN | Jul 28, 2012, 05.27AM IST

KOKRAJHAR/CHIRANG: Five-year-old Budhiswar Basumatary, an inmate at the Kokrajhar Commerce College relief camp, lies on the floor in a state of delirium under the blazing Friday sun, his body raging with fever. His mother, Sumona, fans her child with a piece of hard paper in a desperate attempt to bring down his body temperature. Budhiswar has been suffering from high fever since Thursday.
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These are common scenes at the college, located in the heart of Kokrajhar town, the district headquarters. The entire college has been transformed into a relief camp to shelter people displaced by the Bodo-Muslim ethnic clash from 16 villages surrounding the town. The camp is now home to 1,512 men, women and children.
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There are 419 children in the relief camp and most of them are suffering from fever, cold, dysentery and other stomach ailments. On the verandah of a building on the college campus, a long queue of women carrying their children on their backs await their turn for a medical check-up - both for themselves and their kids.
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Many fear that if health issues are not addressed immediately, there might be an outbreak of cholera or some other epidemic among the inmates of relief camps in interior locations.

A health official said that inmates are becoming vulnerable to diseases as many of the camps do not have contamination-free drinking water and proper sanitary arrangement.

A total of 270 relief camps have sprung up in Chirang, Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Bongaigaon districts where over three lakh people have taken shelter.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...nmates-sense-of-loss/articleshow/15220890.cms

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Assam: Diseases rise in refugee camps

Death at relief camp at Dhubri

A 54 year old woman Noor Nahar Bibi died in a relief camp in Kamadanga High Madrasa in Assam's Dhubri district , which had witnessed ethnic violence. Her family alleges that the death was due to lack of medical facilities. They say that no doctor was to be found when the woman's condition deteriorated. She was suffering from diarrhoea for the last three days. She along with her family fled from Kokrajhar.
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http://www.timesnow.tv/INDIA/Death-at-relief-camp-at-Dhubri/videoshow/4407439.cms

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Assam: Diseases rise in refugee camps

13 die of ailments in Assam relief camps
Samudra Gupta Kashyap : Guwahati, Sun Aug 05 2012, 00:17 hrs



More than 2,400 pregnant women and 8,000 infants are having a difficult time in the relief camps in the four strife-torn districts of Assam, with diarrhoea and dysentery adding to the woes of the inmates as well as the authorities.

Stating this here on Saturday, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said with over four lakh people lodged in 277 relief camps in these districts, healthcare has now emerged as the biggest challenge before the government. ?It is a matter of concern,? he said.

?Thirteen persons including five children aged between one and eight years have already died due to various illnesses, while a sizeable number of the 8,000-odd children below two years of age are currently suffering from various ailments including diarrhoea and dysentery,? Sarma said.
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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/13-die-of-ailments-in-assam-relief-camps/983965/

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Assam: Diseases rise in refugee camps

India's displaced face disease, death in camps
Updated 07:19 PM Aug 06, 2012
NEW DELHI - Hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in squalid, overcrowded camps in India's northeast desperately need food, water and medicines after fleeing some of the worst communal violence in a decade, officials and aid workers said today.

At least 12 people, including four children, have died and thousands are sick with diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria caused by poor conditions in government-run camps in Assam state, where up to 400,000 people have taken refuge.

"We are in a state of high alert," said Assam's Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. "People in the camps are suffering from diarrhoea, dysentery, malaria and high fever. We are concerned about the condition of the babies and pregnant women."
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http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC120806-0000548/Indias-displaced-face-disease,-death-in-camps

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Assam: Diseases rise in refugee camps

At Assam's relief camps, disease and death are a daily battle
Published On: August 6, 2012 | Duration: 3 min, 56 sec

Video report from NDTV http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/ne...s-disease-and-death-are-a-daily-battle/241842

In Assam, 117 doctors are in charge of about four lakh people living in relief camps in Kokrajhar and its adjoining areas, after weeks of ethnic clashes lead to over 50 deaths and also caused a mass exodus of people from their villages to more than 250 relief camps in the region. Now the government says 100 additional doctors are being rushed to the region, but the shock value of the statistics at hand will not go away.