FILE - Rohingya refugee children from Myanmar are seen in front of a Malaysian field hospital near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Jan. 27, 2018. The IFRC has opened two such facilities in Cox's Bazar to help fight the spread of COVID-19.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is opening two new isolation field hospitals in Cox’ Bazar, Bangladesh, to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The IFRC says there was a need for more health care facilities in the teaming Cox’s Bazar region before the coronavirus pandemic. The area is home to an estimated population of 1.24 million people, including more than 900,000 who live in the world’s biggest camps for displaced Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar' Rakhine state.
There are more than 1,500 COVID cases in the region, but Syed Ali Nasim Khaliluzzaman, IFRC’s Head of Population Movement Operation in Bangladesh said that the true extent of the outbreak is not known because of the camps’ limited testing and health facilities.
Sanjeev Kumar Kafley, the head of IFRC’s sub-office in Cox’s Bazar, said “Whilst the virus is emerging as a massive threat to people living in the camp, there remain high levels of deadly diarrhea, acute respiratory infections and clusters of measles, all placing ongoing demands on the healthcare system in and around the camps,”
Kafley said “The two new field hospitals are a step to closing the gap in crucial medical care.”