MSF providing treatment in overwhelmed health centres

Seven kilometres away, in the southern part of the refugee camp, MSF is receiving patients in Jamtoli health clinic. Like others, this clinic is also overwhelmed. As a primary health centre, the isolation ward has five beds, which is normally sufficient – except now the clinic has been receiving 10 to 15 patients daily, according to Dr Nowshad.



In Jamtoli’s isolation ward, Romida and her husband Abu Sufian watch over their ten-month-old son Forkan. The couple got married in the refugee camp, and Forkan is their first child.



His face is covered with the telltale red measles rash, his eyes swollen and gummed shut. Listless and in pain, he writhes on his mother’s lap as she rocks him gently. Concern is etched on the young parents’ faces.



When her son became sick, Romida was so scared she stopped eating. Suffering from a high fever, diarrhoea and experiencing difficulty breathing, Forkan had also refused to drink.



Now, a nurse hands Romida a syringe filled with an oral rehydration solution, which she gently tries to drip into her son’s mouth. Measles can cause oral infections, which makes eating and drinking exceptionally painful. Despite her encouragement, little Forkan will not drink.

Lack of vaccination leaves people fighting for life

The Rohingya have suffered decades of persecution and restrictions on healthcare in Myanmar; as a result, most people never received routine immunisation for infectious diseases. The lack of quality routine immunisation for Rohingya refugees in the camps means that babies like Forkan who are born here are at risk of catching preventable infectious diseases like measles.



After five days in the isolation ward, Nurata’s daughter Nur Salima improved and was finally strong enough to be discharged. Having nursed her back to health, nurse Younus is delighted. The feeling of watching a patient survive “is indescribable” he says, overjoyed.



Forkan, however, is still fighting. Unable to drink any fluids, he was transferred to MSF’s Goyalmara hospital for intensive care. MSF’s team will do everything they can to save his life.