MERCY Malaysia’s Basic Health Clinic Zam Zam camp with two of our local staff members

March 2010

Today, me and Abde Rahman, our Sudanese Admin Officer made our weekly visit to MERCY Malaysia’s Basic Health Care in Zam Zam IDP Camp which opened in May 2008. The camp is located 16 km South of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

Upon arrival, we first noticed a tent had been set up to provide a much needed extension to the waiting area so that the men finally have their own waiting area separated from the women. There were already more than 30 patients there. But more floor mats are needed. Next, we checked the toilets which were in good condition but would soon fill up and need to be relocated. We also checked on the mini bus we used to transfer emergency cases to El Fasher Hospital.

After that I requested Dr. Ahmed (Medical Coordinator) if he could show me the surrounding area and introduce me to our neighbours. I met Mdm. Koltom who lives just across from our Centre. She lives in a hut, surrounded by a fence of dry branches, which she moved into with 10 members of her family after her home was burned down in the conflict 5 years ago. They have to buy water and there is no latrine at home. An NGO had agreed to build common latrines but there is no confirmation yet. We found out that Mdm. Koltom was First Aid trained so we promised her a First Aid box so she can continue to help the community when the clinic is closed.

Suddenly a van arrived. A young woman was unconscious. She was carried in by her relatives. The doctor put her on a drip. After a while she came around. It turned out she was distressed because of family problems. After some counselling from our staff she felt much better. She actually smiled and walked home with her relatives later - there is nothing better than some TLC.

Mdm. Koltum standing outside her house

I was told that 2 other clinics in the area referred their cases to our clinic because they didn’t have enough medication. We have never turned away any patients. I agreed with Dr. Ahmed that we need to be careful supplying medication. We do not want to encourage people to rely on free medicine instead of looking at the cause of diseases. But we will not skimp on emergency cases. Dr. Ahmed emphasised that education is more important than medication. We agreed to start the health campaign at the waiting area on the day when the clinic is not so busy.

The team insisted that we stay for lunch. Standing in a circle we tucked into a meal of delicious local food. We left Zam Zam camp at about 1:30pm. Even though the guards at the three checkpoints along the way seemed to be inspecting our documents more closely than usual, we still managed to pass without much delay and arrived home safely.

*Recent development:

We successfully started the Health Campaign in April with a lot of participation from the community. It is more important than ever as the number of IDPs has increased by 8,000. Water and sanitation are still a major problem in the camp.

Hew Cheong Yew
Head of Department, Relief Operations