Indian doctors tenure in Lanka extended

The tenure of a group of Indian doctors working among the displaced Tamils in refugee camps has been extended by two months.

Indian doctors, mostly from the army’s medical corp, have been working among refugees since the beginning of March, more than two months the war between the LTTE and the Lankan army was over.

Currently, the doctors run a field hospital in a camp in Vauniya where the largest almost 2.5 lakh of the 2.83 lakh refugees were housed. This was the third extension granted to the field hospital unit.

"The field hospital unit has a 60-member medical team comprising surgeons, pediatrician, medical specialist and lady medical officers. The team so far has already treated over 21,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians including cases of gunshot wounds, trauma, head injuries and those related to general surgery and orthopedics at Manikfarms camp at Vavuniya,’’ the Indian defence ministry said on Sunday. Read more ...

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 ...

IAF flies medical team, aid to Sri Lanka

India Friday dispatched a team of 27 doctors and paramedics to the war ravaged northern Sri Lanka, where the large civilian Tamil population is still reeling under the effects of the civil war.

An Indian Air Force (IAF) IL-76 transport aircraft took off from New Delhi for Colombo Friday morning with the medical team, including a surgeon and a paediatrician.

“The team is also carrying about 30 tonnes of medicines worth over Rs.3 crore (Rs.30 million) to replenish stores at the field hospital run by the Indian armed forces in a camp for the internally displaced persons (IDPs),” IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Tarun Kumar Singha said. Read more ...

Sri Lanka hails Indian medical aid to war displaced

Sri Lanka has hailed neighbouring India for providing urgent healthcare assistance to thousands of civilians fleeing the island's northern war zone where the troops and the Tamil Tigers are locked in a fierce battle.

Visiting the Indian field hospital at Pulmoddai in the eastern port city of Trincomalee, senior presidential adviser and legislator Basil Rajapaksa Sunday said Sri Lankans would "never forget how India came to the assistance of civilians who were affected by LTTE atrocities".

Nearly 200,000 people have fled the war zone and come to the government-controlled areas since the beginning of this year. They have been temporarily housed at refugee camps and welfare centres in the northern Vavuniya town.

According to reports, the 62-member Indian medical team, including eight doctors, treated more than 10,000 civilians since March 12 at the field hospital, which is equipped with all modern facilities including surgery theatres. Read more ...

FIELD HOSPITAL SET UP IN CHETTIKULAM TO SERVE INJURED CVILIANS

The field hospital in Chettikulam donated by the Government of France is presently in operation to serve the civilians fleeing the LTTE terrorist and arriving in Government-controlled areas, our correspondent in Vavunia said.

The activities of this hospital were observed by the visiting dignitaries of France and Britain yesterday (29) to obtain first-hand impression of the relief efforts underway.

The fully equipped 100-bed field hospital is backed by a 75 strong medical team and support staff. The staff, including surgeons from France, is carrying out surgeries on a daily basis on civilians who have suffered injuries at the hands of LTTE cadres who fired on them as they fled towards Government-controlled areas. Read more ...

India provides One Billion Indian Rupees relief

India announces a grant of Indian Rs.1 billion for relief and rehabilitation for displaced Tamil civilians in the North, The Hindu reported yesterday.

Meanwhile, India extending an overwhelming humanitarian support to Sri Lanka set up an Indian funded hospital in Pulmudai and sent an additional batch of Indian doctors to Sri Lanka in March this year to provide medical aid to the displaced civilians. Read more ...

France gives field hospital for Sri Lanka war victims

COLOMBO, April 25, 2009 (AFP) - France has offered a 100-bed field hospital together with medical staff to treat Sri Lanka's growing number of war casualties, the government said Friday.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who made the offer, will also travel to Colombo next week for talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Read more ...