Amid restrictions, MSF field hospital in Sri Lanka provides essential, but limited, surgical and medical care

Though Ministry of Health doctors working in the camps are doing their best to cope with the number of patients, there is a need to provide a round-the-clock service which can identify, treat and refer war wounded patients and medical emergencies to the field hospital as quickly as possible.

An inflatable MSF field hospital is currently the closest referral hospital for the 220,000 displaced people living in Menik Farm camp in northern Sri Lanka. Along with six hospitalisation tents, the hospital is equipped with two operating theatres and an intensive care room. The MSF medical team working in this hospital is currently treating war wounded patients, and patients suffering from pneumonia, other severe respiratory infections and dehydration caused primarily by diarrhoea.

The 100 bed facility received its first patients on Friday, May 22, and its first surgical cases on Tuesday, May 26.

Ambulances come from the five zones of Menik Farm camp bearing some of the displaced people in need of hospitalization. Today, around 70 patients lie on their beds under the white tents in the MSF field hospital, just across the road from Menik Farm. Read more ...

Post-operative care for the war wounded in Sri lanka

18 year old Ramachandra was wounded on 8th January and underwent amputations at a hospital in the Vanni. She was evacuated by ICRC ambulance to the main hospital in Vavuniya eight days later. The young woman is missing her left hand, left leg and half of her right foot. Without post operative care and physiotherapy she could remain bedridden for the rest of her life.

Ramachandra is currently hospitalized in the Pompaimadhu Ayurvedic Hospital close to Vavuniya. Unlike other hospitals in the area, which have been flooded with patients, the Pompaimadhu Hospital appears a haven. No wounded patients lie on mats on the floor and there are no ambulance traffic jams at the hospital entrance. Lots of wheel chairs and crutches donated by Handicap International are placed alongside the beds. At least 30 patients in the hospital have one or more amputations, whilst another twenty-five people are paralyzed. Up to 200 patients receive post operative care here that can include small surgery and physiotherapy. Read more ...

Vavuniya district, Sri Lanka: Treating the wounded and medical emergencies remains a priority

Over the last few weeks, while tens of thousands of people have emerged from the Vanni, the former conflict zone in northern Sri Lanka, MSF teams have been working alongside Sri Lankan Ministry of Health staff providing surgical and medical care to people who were caught up in the fighting. The situation remains extremely worrying inside the hospitals and among the 269,000 displaced people in Vavuniya District.

More than 500 wounded patients are receiving daily medical care in the three hospitals where MSF teams are working together with the Ministry of Health staff. Read more ...

Sri Lanka: Medical Activities Stepped Up in Vavuniya

While tens of thousands of people remain trapped in the combat zone, around 200,000 people have been able to flee and settle in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Vavuniya District of Sri Lanka's northeast. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams continue to provide surgical support in Vavuniya Hospital and deliver supplementary food to displaced people living at camps in Vavuniya and Manik Farm.

Last week, MSF signed an agreement with the Sri Lankan authorities to set up an emergency field hospital that will act as the main referral hospital for the 120,000 displaced people living in Manik Farm. MSF has also obtained agreements to start post-operative care in Paimpamadhu Ayurvedic Hospital, which treats patients discharged from Vavuniya Hospital. Read more ...

Sri Lanka: MSF Looks to Increase Assistance While Injured Continue to Arrive

Paul McMaster, an MSF surgeon working at Vavuniya hospital, described the situation on the night of April 26.

Medical staff are still working around the clock and the situation is changing day to day. The number of patients admitted requiring emergency surgery dropped quite sharply before the weekend. On April 23 we had 44 new patients, the first day the figure was below 100 since last Sunday. On April 24 we only had 18.

I have had no indication that fewer casualties are coming from the north, but because we have a backlog they are now trying to divert patients to other hospitals.

There are still people crowded in the wards, in the corridors, on the floor—with fractures, open bullet wounds and blast injuries. There are many people who have been waiting on the wards to go into theatre, some of them for up to 24 hours. Read more ...

It has been bedlam here - MSF doctor in Sri Lanka

Over the last 24 hours we have seen for the first time fewer casualties coming into the hospital. We only saw 44 severely wounded patients coming into the hospital yesterday, although more have come in this morning. It might be that some of the other casualties are going elsewhere, to other hospitals. We've sent a team on a exploratory mission to try and find out exactly what's happening. Read more ...