Written by Staff Writer, CNN
The weather’s gotten colder and the pangs of starvation set in, but the Rohingyas — as they’re known — have refused to leave their hamlet.
Its hundreds of wooden shacks are cut into natural hills and landscaped with kibbutz-style communal spaces, helipads and solar panels. Free medical services are available, and money is donated for basic supplies, but food and water are in short supply.
The Rohingya population of Myanmar has been attacked and displaced from the country for years — leaving over 700,000 Rohingya living in squalid refugee camps.
Dr. Ajay Bhatia, a radiation oncologist, is the Red Cross’s chief physician
H2G has visited the remote village of Teknaf, a little farther north of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
About 90 minutes’ drive from Kutupalong and more than 8,000km from Myanmar, the remote villages of these same Rohingya refugees have for years suffered a devastating lack of basic services.
In a recent report, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned of “serious problems” with distribution and quality of food aid to the Rohingya population. The report blamed poor management of resources and “logistical hurdles” for the suffering of the nearly 5 million Rohingya now living in the Indian Ocean nation
The Thomson Reuters Foundation examined the official food distribution strategy for the monsoon season.
Filling a gap
For nearly two years, this small island has provided the Rohingya with the only remote supply of free medical services the camps have had. With medical emergencies far exceeding the capacity of hospital facilities in the camp-attached camps, medical staff and volunteers from local hospitals would pick up the bill, while scaling down their normal work to stay focused on the Rohingya.
“There is something incredibly important about being able to go here, to be able to have a medical worker that they trust, to be able to see a doctor,” says Dr. Ajay Bhatia, the Red Cross’s chief physician.
In recent months, the number of emergency cases has grown by thousands. Last month’s main exodus of Rohingya refugees added a window of opportunity for the organization to step up its operations in Teknaf and increase delivery of basic supplies to the population.
“We were able to sort of fill a gap that they don’t have elsewhere,” Bhatia says, adding that the delivery of 700,000 tins of rice to shelters on the island has “created a big difference.”
“(There are) no residents to talk to about the needs that people are having.”
Aid needed now more than ever
The Red Cross has been assessing the Rohingya health needs since March, with its over 1,000-page report, which was finalized in September, detailing dangerous trends like malnourishment, tuberculosis and other deadly diseases that are spread by exposure to inhaled or ingestion of contaminated water.
Many of the displaced Rohingya spend months living under the open sky of the island, confined to small, dim huts constructed with wood and bamboo.
They have access to the sea for a few minutes a day for fishing, but face constant attacks from mobs of hundreds of angry, rampaging locals and refugees. Many have fled from the islands to aid centres on mainland Bangladesh.
Most are fortunate, but more than 120,000 refugees are living in overcrowded camps with no supplies, infrastructure or even medical services.
Bhatia says those on the island must go now, even if it means what they want most: basic sanitation.
“This is a terrible thing, but it is the only solution,” he says.