According to reports, many people in the Vanni are affected by under-nutrition and the lack of medicines. Doctors in northern Mullaitivu hospitals say nearly 15% of the children born last year were of low birth weight due to poor maternal nutrition. Twenty five children under 12 were admitted to Kilinochchi hospital in December suffering from malnutrition.
In Kilinochchi hospital, 18,870 patients were treated in December and 18 people died, including two of malaria. According to hospital reports infant mortality rate increased last year compared to previous years. In the hospital, of 174 who died in 2000, 14 were children and 25 were still born. As a result of lack medicines and medical equipment 150 people died within 24 hours of admission. Among the 12,917 treated at Mallavi hospital in December, 2,034 suffered from malaria and 209 from diarrhoea. Between 1990 and 2000, 66 children were still born and six died after birth in Mulliyavalai maternity home.
Reports say anti-rabies vaccine is exhausted in the Vanni hospitals and in the stores of the Health Department. Seriously ill patients are currently being sent to Vavuniya hospital for treatment. People going to Vavuniya are expected to hand over the National Identity Card (NIC) and the Family Card to the LTTE, along with the NIC and Family Card of a relative below the age of 45 who remains in the Vanni. The latter will be taken to task if the person leaving the Vanni does not return. This LTTE rule also applies to patients going to Vavuniya hospital.
In a January letter to the Health minister John Senaviratne, Vanni MP Rasu Kuganeswaran says that a three year-old child died at Poovarasankulam hospital because there is no ambulance at the hospital to take patients to Vavuniya. The MP says that in the last eight months four other people died because of the same reason. Ten year-old Akkarayankulam student, I Murugananthan, died of septicaemia in late January.
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Association says in a letter to Education minister Susil Premajayantha that a number of items are banned or restricted into the Vanni, including school equipment, exercise books, laboratory and office equipment, books, calculators, copiers and computers. According to reports, there are 11,335 disabled people in the Vanni and 432 need artificial limbs. The government has imposed a ban on materials needed to make artificial limbs.
In Vavuniya District, there are over 138,000 people, including 3,000 in LTTE-controlled areas. Some 70,000 people are from other districts. Over 23,000 are in 15 government refugee camps in the district. The refugees live under severe military restrictions in cramped conditions and say the food supplied is inadequate.
A study carried out by the Health Department in the camps indicates that the refugees suffer from poor health conditions. Forty two per cent of children below five years of age suffered from moderate or severe undernutrition. Some 56% of pregnant women and 52% lactating mothers were anaemic and 50% of young women between the ages of 13 and 19 were malnourished.
Of the 5,700 families in the camps, 5,490 receive assistance from the World Food Programme and other families are assisted by the ESC. The ESC provides each family between Rs 336 and Rs 1,260 worth dry rations per month, based on the number of members in the family. But according to assessments made by officers on basic needs, families should receive between Rs 560 and Rs 2,880 worth dry rations. Under the WFP assistance each person receives Rs 11.10 worth dry rations per day. All members of the family are entitled.
Health officers are also concerned over long-term psychological impact of displacement and life in cramped conditions. They recommend immediate measures to resettle the refugees and provide them assistance until they are able to earn a living. They also say that displaced people must receive nutritional supplements to promote their health.
According to reports, over 6,000 people were killed in Vavuniya District between 1990 and 1999 mainly due to military operations. Over 13,400 died in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts during the same period. On the night of 9 January, a masked gang of four abducted student S Muhundan from his home at Pandarikulam. Fellow students staged a demonstration against the abduction.
Sources say Tamil groups allied to the Army are responsible for a number of abductions and disappearances. Mr Muhundan was found blindfolded the following night in a rice field. Amnesty International says Suppiah Sivalingam, a refugee from Kilinochchi, was ordered to report at the ‘Sanasa’ Army camp on 14 January before he is issued a permit to stay in Vavuniya. He went to the camp and has not been seen since. Amnesty has expressed concern for his safety.