By Angela Hill, Canadian delegate with IFRC in Bangladesh
The first full day of the Red Cross Red Crescent field hospital in Bangladesh saved the life of 8-month-old Mohammed Haris.
He came to the hospital barely able to breath - an infection had caused a collapsed lung. His little lungs struggled to fill with every breath.
The surgical team made up of an international staff, including an operating room nurse from the Canadian Red Cross, were able to reverse the condition in a short surgery.
"He was having trouble breathing, so the surgeon decided to put in a chest tube," said Genelle Leifso, from the Canadian Red Cross."After the procedure the baby was breathing much more easily."
The field hospital is run by the Norwegian and Finnish Red Cross Societies and supported by the Canadian Red Cross. Together, they are working tirelessly to support those that had to flee violence in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, and are able to do this important work in partnership with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.
Along with the operating room, there are three wards, a labour and delivery suite alongside maternal care, an isolation unit and a lab.
The Red Cross is working to support thousands of people living in dire conditions in nearby camps and makeshift settlements. People continue to arrive, fleeing violence in the northern Rakhine state in Myanmar. Since August 25, 2017 more than half a million people have crossed the border into Bangladesh. The needs are vast, but the Red Cross is here to help.
The deployments of Canadian Red Cross aid workers to Bangladesh to support the response to this emergency are done with the financial support from the Government of Canada.
Canadians wishing to support the Red Cross response to the Myanmar Refugee Crisis can make a financial donation to the Myanmar Refugee Appeal.
