European Commission mercy flight for Bissau

A two-day airlift of vaccines and other medical material begins today (Friday) in an effort to save hundreds of people wounded in recent fighting in the Guinea Bissau capital, Bissau, and overcome a meningitis epidemic in the southern region of Oio, the European Commission (EC) said in a statement sent to IRIN. The commission, whose humanitarian office ECHO will make the deliveries, said at least 500 people had been wounded in the four days of heavy fighting in Bissau.The main city hospital and another at Canchungo, 53 km to the northwest, were in dire need of medicines, dressings and surgical material, the commission said. At least 30 wounded people would die if they did not receive sufficient treatment, it added. The ECHO flights will carry 20,000 doses of vaccines and 1.5 mt of surgical material for the two hospitals. In Oio, 50 km from Bissau, where a meningitis epidemic has been declared, 16 cases have been recorded half of them fatal. “The risks of a sharp rise in cases is very strong,” the commission said in its statement.