Indian army doctors return from Lanka

COLOMBO: Indian army doctors left Sri Lanka on Wednesday after treating more than 50,000 Tamil war refugees in the last six months in makeshift hospitals that they had set up in the north and east of the island nation.The 50-odd medical personnel carried out 500 major and 3,500 minor surgeries. Besides, 4,500 patients were treated in the day care centres and over 500 others were warded in the hospitals at Pulmoddai in Trincomalee district and Chettikulam in Vavuniya district.At a farewell function here, Indian High Commissioner, Alok Prasad, said that India had responded to the crisis by setting up, within 72 hours, a full-fledged hospital with all kinds of equipment, medicines, doctors and nurses in Pulmoddai. They treated over 7,000 of the war wounded and the sick brought in ships by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).When the war ended in May and about 300,000 refugees suddenly poured into Vavuniya, the Indians shifted to Chettikulam. “In all the six months, there were only two deaths in the Indian-run hospitals. Even these two cases had been brought to the hospital virtually dead,” Alok Prasad said