UNFPA ambulance to serve Rohingya refugees, local community in Cox’s Bazar

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has handed over an ambulance to the Bangladesh government for the services of Rohingya people and the local community in Cox’s Bazar.

Secretary for Medical Education and Family Welfare Division of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Faiz Ahmed received the ambulance for the Mother and Child Welfare Center (MCWC) of the Cox’s Bazar district, the UN agency said in a statement.

It said the ambulance was provided because “due to the overwhelming health needs of the recently arrived Rohingya refugees, health facilities face a number of challenges including transportation of pregnant women specially referred Rohingya refugees to health facilities in an emergency situation.”

The Global Affairs Canada (Canada Emergency fund – CAA55) provided the financial support to the UNFPA for the ambulance.

The Secretary thanked UNFPA and said this would ensure Myanmar nationals in Kutupalong and Nayapara camps, as well as local Bangladeshis there, to have access to lifesaving emergency obstetric and neonatal care.

Dr Abu Sayed Mohammad Hasan, a UNFPA Technical Officer, said they had already recruited 68 midwives to ensure that women are taken care of in “a professional manner” throughout their pregnancy period, at the time of delivery and afterwards.

Director General for Family Planning Services Dr Kazi Mostofa Sarwar was also present, among others, during the ceremony.

About 700,000 Rohingya people took shelter in Cox’s Bazar since Aug 25 last year when the Burmese military began crackdown in the Rakhine State.