UAE-based medics treat Rohingya refugees
abu dhabi — Caregivers from Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi have returned home after working as volunteer clinical staff at Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, where they treated as many as 100-200 patients a day.
The number of patients that receive treatment depends on the number of volunteers who dedicate their time, energy and patience to help some of the world’s most persecuted people, one volunteer nurse told Khaleej Times.
Elizabeth Gilmore, emergency room nurse at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, shared her heartwrenching week-long experience as a volunteer nurse, at the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh with Khaleej Times.
“The situation in the Rohingya world is incredible: these people have fled because they have gone through extraordinary circumstances, witnessing their family members die and homes burn in front of their eyes. They come in search of safety, which is their number one concern.” It is estimated that one million people currently live in temporary shelters along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. The Abu Dhabi-based volunteers who went to Bangladesh include five Emergency Medicine Institute Consultant physicians, an emergency nurse, and a director of Infection Prevention and Control from Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. The caregivers worked in collaboration with charities and official relief organisations, which placed medical professionals in camps across the country.
While there, the team treated as many as 100 to 200 patients a day, from babies to the elderly, for a range of conditions including respiratory issues, parasitic infections and skin conditions. “I was seeing lots of patients during my week there, and seeing a lot of respiratory cases, diseases, congenital heart diseases and asthma,” she recalled. “Most of the people have never been vaccinated, so we saw things you wouldn’t see in the Western world.”
Gilmore pointed out that it is not only physical diseases that the Rohingya
The situation in the Rohingya world is incredible: these people have fled because they have gone through extraordinary circumstances, witnessing their family members die and homes burn in front of their eyes.” Eliza-beth Gilmore, emergency room nurse, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
people are suffering from, but also mental health illnesses.
The nurse recalled one of her most despairing cases, a female patient. “I remember one woman in particular, who was suffering from back pain.”
“The woman said: ‘I was in my home and my husband and three sons were slashed to death in front of me and the men raped me before letting me go’.”
Although the refugees made it out alive to Bangladesh, the experiences many have gone through means they could suffer mentally for the rest of their lives. “How do you take care of someone like that?” said Gilmore. The Rohingya people are facing a mental health crisis as well, she said, adding that many of the patients suffer from hallucinations, where they “talk to people that are not even there,” as well as psychotic breaks. “Every single one of them have seen
The scale of the challenges — the number of refugees and the diversity of health problems we encountered — were daunting, but the experience reminded me of why I decided to practice medicine.” Dr Christian Halloran, Emergency Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
something incredible,” added the nurse, who moved to Abu Dhabi four years ago. Dr Christian Halloran, chief of operations for the Emergency Medicine Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, explained some of the challenges facing medical specialists.
Many of the sick were too ill to make it to camp clinics on their own and had to be treated in the field. In one case, some refugees had been injured by wild elephants and needed urgent medical attention on-site. “The scale of the challenges — the number of refugees and the diversity of health problems — were daunting, but the experience reminded me why I decided to practice medicine. Even though we had to improvise and did not have the resources and technology that we have in Abu Dhabi, we had an important impact on the lives of people in the camps,” added Dr Halloran.
jasmine@khaleejtimes.com