(ANSA) Rome, August 28 - The Italian NGO 'Emergency' has
opened a new health centre for refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan
living in makeshift camps without access to basic services,
Emergency said Thursday.
The Emergency team consisting of national and international
staff is treating as many as 50 people a day in Kurdistan, where
700,000 refugees are being sheltered by Kurdish authorities,
said the NGO in a statement.
Most of the people requiring medical attention are
Christians and Yazidis from the city of Jalawla that has just
been overrun by ISIS forces.
"When the ISIS militiamen took control of the city they
went into the houses and took away eveything," one refugee,
identified only as M., was quoted as saying.
"I escaped with my brother and children because my husband
is in the army and if they had known they surely would have
killed us".
"We all live in one tent with temperatures of 50 degrees,
without drinking water and without electricity for at least
eight hours a day, but at least we are alive".
Emergency, led by warzone doctor Gino Strada, also has
opened a health centre at Arbat in northern Iraq, where 3000
people who fled the fighting in Syria live.
In addition to basic medical assistance Emergency staff
there carry out vaccinations and check on the nutritional status
of children under five years old.
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