Refugees in Bor complain of medicines shortages

The leader of internally displaced people living inside the United Nations base in Bor has complained of a shortage of medicine, including critical malaria drugs.

The leader of internally displaced people living inside the United Nations base in Bor has complained of a shortage of medicine, including critical malaria drugs.

But medical officials inside the camp dispute the claim.

Reverend William Tut, who heads the nearly 3,000 IDPs in Bor, said there is also one suspected case of kala azar, a parasitic disease transmitted by sand flies, and one possible case of tuberculosis. He said neither is getting treatment at the moment.

Family members do not feel safe leaving the camp on their own to take the patients for possible treatment at the nearby Bor hospital. And because of ongoing rains, the UN has been slow to transfer people to facilities in Bor or Juba, Tut said.

William Oyual, a medical worker inside the base, said medicine provided by the World Health Organization and NGOs is available inside the camp and sick people should report to medical centers for treatment. He said they are managing two cases of tuberculosis, already, in cooperation with the state hospital in Bor.