Chickenpox spreads among civilians in Mirusuvil detention camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 17:52 GMT]
Chicken pox infection is spreading fast among more the 1600 civilians held in Mirusuvil Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camp in Thenmaraadchi due to lack of basic hygienic facilities, lack of drinking water and people being crowded together, representatives of humanitarian organizations visiting the camp said. SLA soldiers do not allow patients in need of treatment even though their illness is severe, the sources said.

Only a few of the infected inmates have been admitted to Chaavakachcheari hospital and that too under police and SLA guard, they said.

More and more civilians are being brought to the detention camp in Mirusuvil aggravating the situation as families are packed into small space.

Though the government says that the civilians in the SLA detention camps are being looked after well, the reality is not so, the sources said.

Lack of space, drinking water and lavatories are said to be the main reasons for the spread of infectious diseases among the detainees, Thenmaraadchi Divisional Secretariat officials who are responsible for the detainees said.

Infectious diseases, particularly among children, in the detention camps in Koappaay Teachers’ Training College and Kurunakar, are spreading fast.

Chickenpox is a highly infectious disease that spreads from person to person by direct contact or by air from an infected person's coughing or sneezing. Touching the fluid from a chickenpox blister can also spread the disease.