4 research outputs found

    Refugee camp health services utilisation by non-camp residents as an indicator of unaddressed health needs of surrounding populations: a perspective from Mae La refugee camp in Thailand during 2006 and 2007

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    Introduction: this study explored the differences on the level of medical care required by camp and non-camp resident patients during utilisation of the health services in Mae La refugee camp, Tak province, Thailand during the years 2006 and 2007. Methods: data were extracted from camp registers and the Health Information System used during the years 2006 and 2007 and statistical analysis was performed. Results: the analysis showed that during 2006 and 2007 non-camp resident patients, coming from Thailand as well as Myanmar, who sought care in the outpatient depart-ment (OPD) of the camp required at a significantly higher proportion admission to the inpatient department (IPD) or referral to the district hospital compared to camp resident patients. Although there was a statistically significant increased mortality of the non-camp resident patients admitted in the IPD compared to camp resident patients, there was no significant difference in mortality among these two groups when the re-ferrals to the district hospital were analysed. Conclusion: non-camp resident patients tended to need a more advanced level of medical care compared to camp resident patients. Provided that this it is further vali-dated, the above observed pattern might be potentially useful as an indirect indicator of unaddressed health needs of populations surrounding a refugee camp

    Evaluation of a surgical service in the chronic phase of a refugee camp: an example from the Thai-Myanmar border.

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    RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: Published literature on surgical care in refugees tends to focus on the acute ('emergent') phase of crisis situations. Here we posit that there is a substantial burden of non-acute morbidity amenable to surgical intervention among refugees in the 'chronic' phase of crisis situations. We describe surgery for non-acute conditions undertaken at Mae La Refugee Camp, Thailand over a two year period. METHODS: Surgery was performed by a general surgeon in a dedicated room of Mae La Refugee Camp over May 2005 to April 2007 with minimal instruments and staff. We obtained the equivalent costs for these procedures if they were done at the local Thai District General Hospital. We also acquired the list (and costs) of acute surgical referrals to the District General Hospital over September 2006 to December 2007. RESULTS: 855 operations were performed on 847 patients in Mae La Refugee Camp (60.1% sterilizations, 13.3% 'general surgery', 5.6% 'gynaecological surgery', 17.4% 'mass excisions', 3.5% 'other'). These procedures were worth 2,207,500 THB (75,683.33 USD) at costs quoted by the District General Hospital. Total cost encountered for these operations (including staff costs, consumables, anaesthesia and capital costs such as construction) equaled 1,280,000 THB (42,666 USD). Pertaining to acute surgical referrals to District General hospital: we estimate that 356,411.96 THB (11,880.40 USD) worth of operations over 14 months were potentially preventable if these cases had been operated at an earlier, non-acute state in Mae La Refugee Camp. CONCLUSIONS: A considerable burden of non-acute surgical morbidity exists in 'chronic' refugee situations. An in-house general surgical service is found to be cost-effective in relieving some of this burden and should be considered by policy makers as a viable intervention

    Refugee camp health services utilisation by non-camp residents as an indicator of unaddressed health needs of surrounding populations: a perspective from Mae La refugee camp in Thailand during 2006 and 2007

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    Introduction: this study explored the differences on the level of medical care required by camp and non-camp resident patients during utilisation of the health services in Mae La refugee camp, Tak province, Thailand during the years 2006 and 2007. Methods: data were extracted from camp registers and the Health Information System used during the years 2006 and 2007 and statistical analysis was performed. Results: the analysis showed that during 2006 and 2007 non-camp resident patients, coming from Thailand as well as Myanmar, who sought care in the outpatient department (OPD) of the camp required at a significantly higher proportion admission to the inpatient department (IPD) or referral to the district hospital compared to camp resident patients. Although there was a statistically significant increased mortality of the non-camp resident patients admitted in the IPD compared to camp resident patients, there was no significant difference in mortality among these two groups when the referrals to the district hospital were analysed. Conclusion: non-camp resident patients tended to need a more advanced level of medical care compared to camp resident patients. Provided that this it is further validated, the above observed pattern might be potentially useful as an indirect indicator of unaddressed health needs of populations surrounding a refugee camp
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