ALERT/SRI LANKA: Red Cross expresses concern for sick Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit ALERT/SRI LANKA: Red Cross expresses concern for sick Red Cross expresses concern for sick as Sri Lanka battles escalate COLOMBO, April 20 (AFP) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Thursday expressed concerned for the sick in Sri Lanka's rebel-held north as fighting escalated in the region. The ICRC said it was unable to take adequate supplies of medicines to maintain mobile health clinics in the Wanni region because of delays in getting official clearance to cross into rebel-held areas. "We are concerned about the situation and have already taken it up with the authorities," ICRC spokesman Harsha Gunawardena said. "The number of items and the quantities of medicines that we wanted to take have been drastically cut." Defence officials said the military had temporarily curtailed supplies of some drugs but routine supplies to state-run hospitals in rebel-held areas had been sent through representatives of government departments. "There is a restriction on some of the items in view of the ongoing fighting," military spokesman brigadier Palitha Fernando said, adding "There is no shortage of medicines in hospitals in Wanni." He said stocks of medicines had been taken to the rebel-held areas by health ministry authorities. His remarks came as another humanitarian aid agency, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), warned Monday of serious medicine shortages in the embattled northern regions and urged authorities to allow supplies in. Drug supplies have become drastically depleted in the war-torn Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts in the past three months and attempts by humanitarian agencies to renew stocks have been unsuccessful, MSF said. It said that twice last week it was prevented by security forces from transporting drugs and medical supplies through the military defence lines to Mallavi Hospital in Mullaitivu. The hospital is in an area held by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which is battling government forces in the island's northeast. "The shortage of medication has become so critical that patients are being turned away from hospitals and clinics without receiving the necessary treatment," says Isabel Simpson, MSF (Holland) head of mission in Sri Lanka. More than 800 patients have left Mallavi Hospital in the past month without receiving medication, MSF said in a statement. Simpson said they had got the green light to move medicines on Tuesday but a bureaucratic hurdle prevented it and they are now due to take the supplies in a convoy on Friday. Essential drugs for the treatment of malaria were also in extremely short supply, as well as basic essential medicines such as Paracetamol, antibiotics and paediatric preparations, MSF said. MSF pressed the Sri Lankan government to urgently consider the civilian population and expedite the transport of medical supplies into these areas without further delay. There has been heavy fighting between the LTTE and government forces in the past three weeks in the northern peninsula of Jaffna where both sides have suffered heavy casualties. Center for Justice and Peace in South Asia - An advocacy group for Indigenous and Minority Rights. To subscribe, send a message to cjesa-subscribe@egroups.com Go to the e-group's home page at http://www.egroups.com/list/cjesa ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytas-04.21.00-11:09:03-30565