The Disaster Management Unit of the Health Ministry will be opened 24 hours a day to coordinate the health care services of the internally displaced persons. A Ministry spokesman said the number of internally displaced persons arriving in cleared areas had increased during the last few weeks and the Ministry wanted to strengthen the care they received.

He said yesterday (20) that since February there had been 26 births at the Trincomalee General Hospital.

The number of operations performed from February 11 to March 15 at this hospital were 1,557, he said.

The twelve welfare camps had over forty thousand internally displaced persons living in them.

A total of 3,635 patients had arrived at the Trincomalee Hospital from Mullaitivu within this period.Of this number 160 had been transferred to Kantale Base Hospital, 75 to the Tampalagama, 105 to the National hospital and Kandy Teaching Hospital 1,708 to the Vavuniya General Hospital, 171 to the Polonnaruwa General Hospital and 732 to the Mannar Base Hospital.

Eight consultants, 68 medical officers, five anesthetists, 21 midwives and 113 nurses have been assigned to hospitals in Vavuniya, Chettikulam and Puwarasakulam the spokesman said.