30, 000 patients in 3 months in Cox's Bazar. That is exactly what the ICRC – BDRCS Mobile Medical Team (MMT) have done in the last 90 days. Every day 4 doctors, 4 paramedics and BDRCS volunteers head out to camps and settlements. The MMT visits Boroshonkola, Kunapara (Bandarban), Jodimura, Britishpara and Domdomia (Teknaf). The team sees on average about 400 patients daily, treating symptoms, providing basic medication and referring the more serious cases to nearby state Governmental health facilities, the MSF Hospital or the ERU Field Hospital. Health Delegate Hofi says that the most common ailments the team sees are respiratory tract infections, common cold, flu, fever and diarrhea.
It is estimated that over 626, 000 people have fled from Rakhine State and are living in camps and settlements in the Cox's Bazar area. Dr Shohan who has been working with the team since the 10th of September says "What we do is try our best to treat the patients we see on the spot with the drugs that we bring with us. We do this in the camps but also in the border areas. Some patients who are very sick are transferred out".
Half of the people who have crossed the border are women and children. "We have been able to help some of the pregnant women we see with clean delivery kits and attended to some new-borns in quite difficult situations in the last 3 months" adds Hofi.