Lada refugee camp, Bangladesh: Some women refugees from Lada unregistered refugee camp blocked all staff and the clinic of the Islamic relief this morning.
The clinic is open from morning till 4 pm and closed on Fridays. It treats 200 patients per day both from among local people and refugees. This morning, the guard of the clinic did not allow a woman refugee patient from entering. The women became angry and blocked the clinic and stopped all staff members from entering. At about 11 am, more refugee women gathered and locked the gate of the clinic barring exit and entry.
"When we refugees come for treatment we are usually treated inhumanly by the staff, but they (staff) treat local people politely. The clinic is situated in the camp and it must give priority to refugees," said Nur Begum, a refugee woman.
"We will keep the clinic blocked until the concerned officials guarantee better treatment to refugees," she added.
"We had no problem with Medicins sans Frontieres (MSF)'s clinic at the Dum Dum Meah site, but, the new clinic of the Islamic Relief Organization (IRO) is only open until 4 pm and closes on Fridays. The diarrhoea treatment centre is open 24 hours a day, and the therapeutic feeding centre is open until 9 pm, but we need a 24-hour emergency in-patient ward," said Mrs. Boshoni from the camp.
"Twenty nine people have died in the camp since it was established in early July. We believe if we have 24–hours emergency care, the refugees would not have died including two mothers during child birth and a baby. In one case, a pregnant mother came to the clinic just before 4 pm on a Thursday, but was reportedly turned away and told to come back on Saturday. She died during child birth. We get poor medical supplies from the clinic as it only prescribes basic medicines such as paracetamol, antibiotics and painkillers, said a community health worker.
At noon, all the people from inside the clinic were allowed to go out from the clinic after Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel came and requested the protesters to release the people.
