Sickness in the Vanni
THIRTY SEVEN people admitted to the Akkarayankulam hospital in Kilinochchi District died of disease in the last two months, reports say. The hospital which treated over 41,000 displaced people in November, continues to suffer from shortage of doctors and medicine.
The agony of over 400,000 refugees continues in the rains now lashing the Vanni. Although NGOs say there has been no major outbreaks of diarrhoea despite heavy rains, malaria is on the increase and there is a shortage of anti-malarial drugs. Several students who became ill during the GCE (Ordinary Level) examination were found to have contracted malaria.
Water supply to the refugees in the Vanni remains a problem. Though many wells are now replenished, rains have affected shelter construction and brought the danger of tanks overflowing. After a tank at Maniyarkulam in Kilinochchi was breached in mid-December, 300 families were forced to flee the area. NGOs face difficulty in water supply projects as the go
vernment continues to deny permits to transport equipment from Colombo.
According to reports there is no significant improvement in the food situation in the Vanni. Following clashes in Kokkuveli, food lorries were denied permission for three days to pass Vavuniya in mid-December. Lorry owners say the Department of Essential Services continues to deny payment of Rs 2.5 million ($50,000) due to them and they may be forced to abandon transport of food.
Following clashes with LTTE in which five soldiers died, populated areas were heavily shelled from Kilinochchi town, now occupied by the Army. Seven Tigers were killed in a clash at Kokkuthoduvai in the Veli Oya area on 4 December. In two LTTE attacks in the same area in mid-December 17 soldiers were killed and 12 others injured.
Two civilians who went to see their house at Vinayagapuram in Kilinochchi died of Army shelling in late December. Three Jaffna refugees were shot dead by the Army on 28 December when they visited their places of residence in Kilinochchi.
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