A special medical team will be sent to the south-eastern region of the country to collect samples from Rohingya people to find out any communicable disease.
“We will send a special team today to collect samples from Rohingya people who have taken shelter at Cox’s Bazar, Teknaf and Ukhia areas feeling from Rakhine state of Myanmar due to violence,” said Senior Scientific Officer of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) Dr ASM Alamgir while talking to BSS on Tuesday.
The team will collect samples from them to detect if any Rohingya is infected with infectious disease, he said.
“Almost all the children need treatment for malnutrition as their immune system is weak due to undernourishment,” said the officer of the country’s national disease monitoring arm.
The Health Ministry took the decision to send the special team to different camps in Cox’s Bazar, Teknaf and Ukhia areas followingan HIV positive Rohingya refugee has been identified on Monday.
“An HIV positive Rohingya refugee has been identified at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia and the patient has been kept in an isolated place with required treatment,” he said.
“Apart from this, 32 medical teams are working to distribute 120,000 measles vaccines, 40,000 polio vaccines and 38,000 vitamin tablets provided by the government,” added Dr Alamgir.
“Many Rohignyas are suffering from diarrhoea, acute respiratory throat infection, pneumonia, chronic skin disease called ‘psoriasis’ and fever due to intake of contaminated food and water,” said the senior scientific officer.
Director General of Health Services Professor Dr Abul Kalam Azad told BSS that a medical team on Monday visited different camps with a view to detecting various types of sexually-transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.
He said special arrangements would be made for pregnant women and the people, who have high blood pressure, diabetes and other long-term diseases.
According to the foreign ministry, at least 300,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh in the last few weeks.
