Unsuitable food for malnourished children in Vavuniyaa camps – Indian doctor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 September 2009, 11:13 GMT]
Malnourished children in the camps for the Internally Displaced (IDPs) from Vanni and held in the camps in Vavuniyaa are being provided with unsuitable food for consumption, which could make their condition deteriorate further, according to Dr. Bose, an Indian doctor providing medical assistance to the IDPs, sources in Colombo said.

At a ceremony held in Colombo last week to felicitate the Indian doctors who had provided medical assistance to the IDPs over the past six months, Indian Pediatrician Dr. Bose told media that malnutrition could not be eliminated with medicine alone.

“I have been treating the children in these camps for the past three months, and as a pediatrician, I wish to say that malnutrition cannot be cured with medicine only. Supplementary healthy foods need to be provided to them at least for three months,” Dr. Bose said.

He emphasized that authorities should at provide more protein-enriched food for these children.

“I do not think that the food prepared in camps provides the necessary nourishment to the malnourished. Instead each child should be given healthy homemade food. Even though the price of an egg is very high, each child should be given an egg daily as a supplementary high protein diet to overcome their illness,” added Dr. Bose.