Fifth consignment of aid materials sent to meet needs of Rohingya refugees

dubai — Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has recently sent essential supplies for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh via the fifth rotation of the air bridge. A flight carrying relief items, including essential nonfood items such as blankets and sheets to address the needs of Rohingya refugees, departed from Dubai International Airport at 6am on Friday.

The air bridge was established as per the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Mohamed Bali, MSF executive director in the UAE, said: “Since August 25, over 515,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed into Bangladesh, fleeing violence in Rakhine state, Myanmar. Camps are severely congested and refugees are in urgent need of food and clean drinking water. A massive scale-up of humanitarian aid in Bangladesh is needed to avoid a public health disaster.

“Most of the newly arrived refugees have moved into makeshift settlements without adequate access to shelter, food, clean water, or latrines,” said Bali.

“Our medical facilities are completely overwhelmed. Between August 25 and September 17, we received a total of 9,602 outpatients, 3,344 emergency room patients, 427 inpatients,

Camps are severely congested and refugees are in urgent need of food and clean drinking water. A massive scaleup of humanitarian aid in Bangladesh is needed to avoid a public health disaster.” Mohamed Bali, MSF executive director

225 patients with violence-related injuries, and 23 cases of sexual violence.”

Since 2008, MSF has used Dubai as the primary logistical hub to provide medical assistance to people in Afghanistan, which remains one of MSF’s largest operational programmes, with more than 2,300 full-time staff and 366,000 outpatient consultations conducted in 2015. In recent years, MSF’s logistics hub in Dubai has also played an essential role in supporting emergency response in other contexts like Nepal.

“We are exploring the potential to expand MSF’s logistical capacity in Dubai to support its emergency logistical delivery regionally and beyond,” said Bali. “Dubai’s geographic location and well-established infrastructure help support our medical humanitarian logistics and supply chain.”

MSF has logistics and supply offices in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Kenya and the UAE.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com