Dysentery hits blaze-hit refugees

Damak, March 6:

After the inferno destroyed their huts at Goldhap camp of Jhapa, fire-hit Bhutanese refugees are suffering from dysentery and pneumonia.

Emergency service in-charge at Health Centre in the Goldhap camp Dev Narayan Bhattarai said that fire-hit refugees are suffering from pneumonia and dysentery. Some 20 patients suffering from pneumonia and from dysentery are coming to the centre for treatment everyday, Bhattarai said.

Cholera may also spread in the camp due to the mismanagement of settlement and lack of sanitation, he said. “Symptoms of asthma, itching of body and vomiting are also seen with some of the refugees,” he added.

Symptoms of pneumonia have been seen with children below the age of five while the women and elderly persons are suffering from dysentery.

The health centre has been providing first aid treatment to the patients. Forty-two patients have been referred to further treatment to the Koshi Zonal Hospital and the Mechi Zonal Hospital as of today, the centre said.

“As the fire destroyed our toilets, we are forced to use open space,” a refugee Durga Maya Magar said.

Two MBBS doctors, five health assistants and five CMA health workers are involved in treating the patients in the camp, the health centre said.

“Attempts are underway to rehabilitate the fire-hit refugees,” a member of camp management committee Dilliram Chapagain said, adding that the refugees are staying in temporary huts made of plastic.

Around 1,300 camps were reduced to ashes in the fire on Saturday night.