Published 3 June 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2228
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b2228

News

International criticism prompts Sri Lanka to improve health services for conflict victims

John Zarocostas

1 Geneva

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Widespread international condemnation has prompted Sri Lanka’s ministry of health to increase health services for almost 300 000 people displaced by the recent war and confined in camps. The World Health Organization is taking the lead in helping the health ministry by providing technical advice and supplies, including hospital beds and cardiac monitors, said Paul Garwood, spokesman for WHO.

WHO says that hospital facilities are severely overburdened and in need of more staff and medical supplies. There are seven hospitals in the Northern Province and seven hospitals outside to provide care for sick and injured people.

According to WHO, 232 doctors and 200 nurses will be permanently posted in the affected area. Seventeen primary health centres, with nutritional screening units at each centre, and five referral centres, are being developed in the camps for internally displaced people.

Sri Lanka’s secretary general for coordinating the peace process, Rajiva Wijesinha, told the . . . [Full text of this article]


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