GUINEA: Aid groups mobilize to help wounded

Photo: Contributor/IRIN

This man in the Guinea capital Conakry said his hand was nearly severed when a soldier hacked it during the 28 September crackdown

DAKAR, 21 October 2009 (IRIN) - Aid agencies are mobilizing funds and relief supplies to help more than 1,000 Guineans injured in 28 September violence, as well as to brace for further unrest as the country remains “very volatile”, according to the UN.

UN agencies, donors and NGOs in the capital Conakry are providing meals for hospital patients, giving medical supplies to health centres and ordering in new supplies to ensure adequate emergency stocks, aid workers in Guinea told IRIN.

Three weeks after over 150 people were killed in a military crackdown on demonstrators in the capital Conakry, with women and girls raped, Guineans are coping with the aftermath, some still searching for disappeared relatives’ bodies. Uncertainty and tension reign.

“The situation is very volatile and it is feared that protests may continue with even more casualties in the next days or weeks,” said a World Health Organization (WHO) document on the situation in Guinea.

The number of wounded seeking treatment is rising as more people injured on 28 September visit health centres; aid workers and human rights activists say many people needing medical care have stayed home for fear of repression. 

Immediately following the violence the Guinean Red Cross deployed scores of volunteers to assist the wounded, and other aid agencies including Médecins Sans Frontières provided emergency assistance to the health sector.

The UN on 14 October allocated US$417,205 from its Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF, for a WHO project to support health facilities in Conakry.

The funds will go toward medicines, trauma kits, rape treatment kits and blood transfusion supplies, as well as preparing health personnel to deal with trauma patients, according to the document.

More than 200 people are known to be in “a very serious” condition and need lengthy treatment, the document says.

Current emergency stocks of relief supplies are insufficient to deal with repeated shocks, according to the UN in Guinea.

“The main issue now is to determine the gaps in medical and relief supplies,” said Philippe Verstraeten, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Guinea. “We are working on defining those needs so we can mobilize for further funding.”

The NGO Terre des hommes (Tdh) is providing meals to patients in Donka Hospital, one of Conakry’s main public hospitals, according to Tdh’s Marie-Jeanne Hautbois. The Health Ministry’s crisis committee requested this assistance, as the ministry has said victims would receive free treatment including food, she said. The food is provided by the ministry, private donations and Tdh.

Guinea’s health system has long been in a dismal condition, with frequent ruptures in medicines and medical supplies. Since the junta took power in December 2008 government ministries, including the Health Ministry, have had no budget, according to a ministry official. In July the Health Ministry chaired an emergency meeting about a shortage of equipment for blood transfusions.

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