BANGKOK, 26 April 2011 – The Department of Disease Control has dispatched officials to Surin and Buri Ram provinces to provide medical services for local residents living in shelters following cross-border fighting.
Deputy Director-General of the Department of Disease Control MD Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai warned that local residents of Surin and Buri Ram, who had been relocated from their homes to sheltering centers due to the latest border clashes, were at risk of health problems. He explained that the crowdedness within the camps was conducive to communicable diseases, such as influenza, German measles, dengue fever, chickenpox, hepatitis A, leptospirosis, malaria, tuberculosis and helminthiasis.
Therefore, the department has sent teams of officials from the Bureau of Epidemiology to examine health conditions of the evacuees in order to separate patients from others and to provide them with treatment. Based on the findings during 22-25 April, over 2,800 people have fallen ill and most of them were diagnosed with common cold, diarrhea, peptic ulcer, muscle aches and stress. Twelve children were also found to have chickenpox.
