Colombo – IOM has handed over USD 95,000 of urgently needed laboratory equipment and supplies to two war-affected hospitals in Mallavi and Killinochchi.

The donation, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via UMCOR (United Methodist Council on Relief), will help the hospitals to provide health care to thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) returning to the areas from the Menik Farm IDP camp.

IOM Director of Migration Health Dr. Davide Mosca, who attended the handover at the newly renovated laboratory of the partially destroyed Mallavi Base Hospital, emphasized the need for decent health care for returnees and praised g

overnment efforts to rebuild shattered health infrastructure in northern Sri Lanka since fighting ended in the area in May 2009. "IOM has already moved about 190,000 IDPs from Menik Farm to their home districts in the north and the east and expects to move more in the coming months. We therefore strongly support government efforts to strengthen health care provision for the returnees," he said.   

IOM interventions to support the Ministry of Health and strengthen the health system in areas of return have also included the restoration of key primary health facilities in Oddusudan, Mallavi and Mullankaville.

It also provides 16 ambulances on call 24 hours, daily transportation for government health workers, and two outreach mobile clinics in Mannar district.

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For more information, please contact: Stacey Winston, IOM Sri Lanka, Tel. +94 (0) 115325300, E-mail: swinston@iom.int