Montréal, April 24, 2009 - Handicap International is working with displaced persons fleeing the conflict in northern Sri Lanka. The association runs development and emergency response projects throughout the island and has been providing assistance to people with injuries and disabilities, both in hospitals and the IDP transit camps.
Over the last ten days an ever increasing number of displaced persons have been arriving at the Vavuniya hospital where Handicap International is working. The hospital personnel are overrun by the continuous flow of injured men, women and children of all ages.
These new arrivals have come from areas of intense fighting to the camps where food and water is scarce due to the number of IDPs fleeing the conflict. Exhausted, they are also suffering psychologically from what they have had to endure over the last few weeks. There are a large number of amputees amongst the displaced and many others who risk losing a limb due to the serious injuries they have incurred or fractures that have gone untreated.
At the Vavuniya hospital, Handicap International is coordinating post-trauma rehabilitation care for the injured, to avoid patients becoming permanently disabled. Handicap International's mobile teams have also been providing rehabilitation in several transit camps.
The association is also meeting the immediate needs of people with injuries and disabilities by providing mobility aids. Wheelchairs, crutches, and walking frames have all been directly distributed to beneficiaries. The association has also provided specific equipment such as beds and adapted shoes etc. to the most vulnerable groups.
In this crisis situation, Handicap International calls for all parties to respect the rule of international humanitarian law and to ensure by all possible means that the displaced populations have access to emergency assistance as quickly as possible.