Vanni medical situation dire say NGOs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 July 2000, 20:47 GMT]
Hospitals, dispensaries and pharmacies in the Vanni region are on verge closing down due to the ban and restrictions on medical supplies imposed by the Sri Lankan Government, NGO sources said Wednesday.

An aid agency worker, quoting the Provincial Health Services offices in Mullaithivu said that government hospitals in Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu, dispensaries in Mulangavil, Mallavi, Maternity wards in Veravil, Vaddakachchi, Tharmapuram, pharmacies in Vanneri, Thunukai, Kandavalai and Oddusuddan are not able to provide medical services to civilians here.

Vavuniya hospital sources, meanwhile said medical supplies for the first and second quarter of the year have not been sent to the Vanni.

An aid worker said UNCHR has sent a truck load of supplies to the Vanni. But essential medicines and equipement were not included according to him.

Health officials in Vavuniya said the people in the Vanni region will be severely affected and that the number of deaths due to insufficient medical care will rise.

They said that an X-ray machine and an autoclave supplied to the Mullaithivu Hospital have been taken away from the health department's stores in Vavuniya to the Sri Lanka Army hospital in Anuradhapura.

Two Ultra-sound scanners provided to Kilinochchi hospital have been sent to the Kantalai hospital in the Trincomalee district according to the health officials.

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