Thousands of IDPs in Tanintharyi Region’s Palaw Twsp in urgent need of medicine

By DMG 05 Oct 2022

DMG Newsroom
5 October 2022, Palaw, Tanintharyi Region

Medicines are urgently needed to provide healthcare services to more than 9,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Palaw Township, Tanintharyi Region, according to aid workers.

Since the third week of September, there has been a shortage of medicines in displacement camps, causing difficulties in providing emergency medical treatment to the displaced people, said a local aid worker.

“Medicines are being provided to displacement camps. There has been a shortage of medicines in displacement camps since mid-September. Medical workers are treating the displaced people with only the remaining medicine in the displacement camp. I would like to ask donors at home and abroad to contribute medicine to the IDPs,” the aid worker added.

Malaria, influenza and dysentery are the most common illnesses among IDPs, and although healthcare workers are striving to treat children, pregnant mothers and the elderly as a priority, they say it is difficult to acquire the necessary medicines.

“Most of the IDPs are children, pregnant women, and the elderly. There is not enough medicine, and we are still unable to provide proper healthcare to the displaced people,” a health worker said.

They are facing difficulties transporting medicine to the displacement camps due to fighting between the military and anti-regime forces along the Dawei-Palaw road and military restrictions on the transportation of medicine and food, according to the local relief workers.

“The military has imposed restrictions on the transportation of medicine and food due to ongoing fighting. We are trying to deliver medicine and food to displacement camps using other convenient means,” a local relief worker said.

From July to September, more than 9,000 people have fled their homes due to fighting between junta troops and a coalition led by Brigade 6 of the Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO), a military branch of the Karen National Union (KNU), in Palaw Township.