Kaladan News
July 9, 2007
Pregnant woman dies from lack of treatmentTeknaf, Bangladesh: A pregnant Burmese refugee woman living in the Nayapara camp died because of lack of proper treatment on July 7, said Enamul Haque, her husband.
The woman was identified as Shazeeda Khatun (20), of MRC No. 26123, Shed No. 68/2 in Nayapara camp.
Shazeeda Khatun was into her eighth month of pregnancy. She began to have stomachache from late on the night of July 6. It was her first pregnancy. At about 7:00 a.m, on July 7, she was taken to the Ministry of Health (MOH) run by the UNHCR and the government. But, she was not attended to in the MOH clinic centre till 11 a.m. After 11 a.m. Dr. Papush came for a primary check up and referred her to the Medicine Sense Frontier (MSF) after he found her condition had become critical.
After admission in the MSF clinic, the patient was provided treatment by doctors. They tried to save her life but were unable to, said her husband.
She died at noon in the MSF clinic. A MSF doctor told her husband that "if she had been admitted two hours earlier, she could have been saved.
Her body was handed over to her husband and buried at about 5 p.m.
"We are facing severe difficulties in receiving proper treatment from the Ministry of Health (MOH). If we go to MOH centre with serious patients, the doctors don't provide proper check ups and keep patients waiting for a long time without treatment. Neither do they refer serious patients to the MSF on a priority basis," refugees said.
The MSF is not allowed to admit serious patients without the consent of the MOH. Both medical facilities are controlled by the Bangladesh government. MSF is keen to provide treatment to refugees but they cannot do so without the permission of the government and the MOH. ##
Sources:http://www.bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1991&Itemid=6
