COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A 100-bed capacity hospital opened in Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh. It is expected to serve 140,000 Rohingya refugees based in the Kutupalong camp.
This round-the-clock medical facility, built and managed by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – Doctors without Borders with the support of Sharjah-based international humanitarian organisation, The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF), aims to treat 7,200 people in its first year.
Part of TBHF’s leading humanitarian efforts to reach out globally to vulnerable communities, this hospital project was supported by AED 3 million donation from Sharjah Media Corporation (SMC), through its public fundraising initiative on healthcare projects, and will offer much-needed relief to the long-suffering Rohingya, including pregnant women, infants and young children.
The hospital is equipped with intensive care units, paediatric and maternity wards, as well as outpatient departments, including support services for sexual assault victims.
The facility also houses a water purification system that serves the area’s residents and is equipped with a hi-tech warning system to detect infectious diseases and respond to and control outbreaks. The hospital seeks to strengthen the area’s current infrastructure in responding to emergencies in the wake of epidemiological conditions or natural disasters.
Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, humanitarian envoy of the foundation and chairman of SMC inaugurated the hospital last Friday.
He said: “The funding for the hospital was collected through public fundraising initiative for healthcare projects and goes to show the UAE’s community integrated effort to spreading humanitarian messages worldwide.
“The hospital mirrors solemn humanitarian bonds that connect the UAE community to the rest of the world.”
More than a year into the crisis in Cox’s Bazar, the number of Rohingya refugees has reached nearly one million. The scale of influx into Cox’s Bazar district and the scarcity of resources has resulted in a critical humanitarian emergency, exceeding the coping capacity of the local communities and systems.
