TIKA volunteers reach out Rohingya in Bangladesh

By Ahmet Furkan Mercan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish medical students visited a Turkish hospital and distributed aid packages in Bangladesh as part of a program organized by Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).

As part of the "2019 Experience Sharing Program", TIKA volunteer students participated in clinical-general surgery practices along with senior Turkish doctors at Sahra Hospital which was built by Turkey in Bangladesh's southern Cox's Bazar district, according to a statement by TIKA.

The hospital provides services to Rohingya refugees living in cramped makeshift camps in Cox's Bazar.

A total of 1,000 patients are treated daily in the clinic, according to Kadir Serkan Turel, head doctor at the Sahra hospital.

Students also took part in a food aid campaign organized by TIKA and distributed food packages to 19,000 people and 5,000 families.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz