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MSF warns of major emergency in Sudanese refugee camps in Chad

A refugee camp in Chad   -  
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AFP

Chad

Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Sudan's war have crossed into Chad with many of them ending up in overcrowded camps in the eastern town of Adré.

There they face tough conditions, with the camps that house them running low on everything from food, to water, sanitatary facilities, shelter, and medical care.

At a makeshift field hospital in Adré, volunteer doctors are doing their best.

"The majority of our patients are sick with malaria, eye infections, respiratory diseases and malnutrition. The field hospital we work in is very small and we need to make the space a bit bigger," says Dr Nour al-Sham.

Overcrowded conditions in the camp, combined with the onset of Chad’s rainy season and the lack of water and poor sanitation, makes the camp a hotbed for the spread of diseases.

Adam Bakht is an elderly man who has been desperately waiting for medical attention along with some 200,000 other refugees in the town.

"I have diabetes, asthma, and allergies. They only gave me an injection to ease the pain. My diabetes medication is supposed to arrive in three days, but for my asthma they told me to buy an inhaler from outside the camp, " he said.

As hundreds of refugees continue to arrive at the camp, charity Doctors Without Borders warns that the situation, already a major emergency, risks deteriorating further if there is not a substantial scale-up of humanitarian aid.