NGO initiates medical aid in the north

An Italian NGO, Cooperation Internationale (COOPI), has set up base at Bossangoa, 305 km northwest of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), to coordinate medical activities in the war-ravaged north, an agency official told IRIN. "We are setting up a drug supply system for 88 health facilities," Enerico Colombo, the agency's humanitarian operation officer, said on Saturday. A team from the NGO, comprising two physicians and two medical assistants, was already in Bossangoa, Ouham Province, to prepare for the drug distribution. He said the distribution was scheduled to begin "early this week". He added that the EC Humanitarian Office, ECHO, had provided about US $650,000 to COOPI's emergency programmes in the north. "We have drugs worth about 300,000 dollars expected to last from May to November," he said. The project, he said, would also cover Ouham Pende Province, whose main town is Bozoum, 384 km northwest of Bangui. Noting that the government had made efforts to improve security in Bossangoa, Colombo said COOPI would establish a base a Bozoum when security was restored in the town. Ouham and Ouham Pende have about 650,000 people, half of whom are still in hiding after being displaced by six months of fighting between rebels and government troops, Colombo said. He said that the presence of the COOPI medical team in Ouham might encourage internally displaced people (IDPS) to return home. "They are not far from their villages where they come in the morning or in the evening to visit their homes before returning to the bush," he said. Most of the October 2002-March 2003 fighting took place in Ouham and Ouham Pende provinces between fighters loyal to Francois Bozize, a former CAR army chief of staff, and government troops of President Ange-Felix Patasse. Hundreds of residents fled the region then, and many are reported to be hesitant to return as insecurity prevails. The fighting ended when Bozize ousted Patasse in a coup on 15 March. Regarding the medical services to be offered by COOPI, Colombo said people seeking treatment at the health facilities would be expected to pay 100 francs CFA ($0.16), which would go towards the payment of medical personnel. The cost of medical tests such as X-rays would be reduced, he said. The official said each patient would receive a bar of soap and 50g of iodised salt, as there was a shortage of the commodities in the area. Moreover, he said, COOPI would provide the two provincial hospitals in Bossangoa and Bozoum with surgical equipment and support the paediatric and maternity wards as well as other laboratories. The COOPI aid comes a few days before the closure of emergency programmes by another NGO, Medicos Sin Fronteras (MSF-Spain), in the north. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is carrying out a programme similar to COOPI's in the east of the country. About 890,000 people in six provinces in the east, which were cut off during the six months of fighting, are due to benefit from the UNICEF aid, which is expected to last until August.