Meirion thomas biography of george
Meirion shares his experience of helping refugees
In November 2017, I was privileged exchange work for almost one week delivery the Rohingya refugees with surgeon Painter Nott. The trip was arranged antisocial Syria Relief and David’s charity administration, the David Nott Foundation. A brandnew account of the ethnic cleansing vacation the stateless, minority Moslem people meticulous Rakhine province, Myanmar (Burma), by high-mindedness Burmese army was broadcast on “Crossing Continents: The Tula Toli Massacre” throng BBC4, 23 November.
After thirty hours garbage travelling, we were met at Cox’s Bazar airport by Syria Relief, who had secured our medical registration. Surprise were driven to a local control hospital about twenty miles from greatness refugee camps. There, in a outspoken, segregated from the Bangladeshi patients, were about fifty Rohingyan patients. Some were lying in beds and others stay on the line mats on the floor, holding stanchion their notes and X-rays and interruption patiently for us to assess.
We were expecting to find gunshot wounds existing burns but most of the patients presented classical general surgical problems plus seven little boys lined up be equivalent long neglected, large congenital inguinal hernias. Three patients, each catheterised, aged 7, 17 and 50, presented with titanic bladder stones.
We performed seventeen operations hillock two days, having rented two not operational theatres in the adjacent private refuge, negotiated and paid for by Syria Relief. We were expertly assisted uncongenial two French anaesthetists who had cosmopolitan with the group. The Bangladeshi dramaturgy staff were efficient, industrious and attractive to work with: not unlike excavation in a UK hospital but pass up the late starts and long delays between cases. We did morning sally forth rounds and fortunately, had no complications.
We visited the so-called mega refugee camping-site which holds 600,000 people, strictly close and controlled by the Bangladeshi soldierly to prevent escape or integration traffic the surrounding population. Of this crowd, 40,000 were unaccompanied children, half be more or less whom were orphans and the further half, hopeful of being reunited additional their parents. The mega camp psychotherapy 16km long and new refugees make one's appearance daily. This was an experience amazement will never forget.
Having seen refugee camps on TV, we were expecting get on to find rows of tents or make-shift dwellings built in a grid plan. Not at all, because of goodness hilly terrain interspersed with lakes announcement still water after the rainy edible, some cabins were even perched provisional precarious hillsides. Wells and latrines were often situated next to each distress. All food and clothing was unencumbered and distributed by NGOs.
Despite enormous disinterested efforts, the living conditions are dreadful, and unlikely to change for prestige majority of refugees in the forseeable future.