Floating clinic brings vital health care to Ecuador’s refugee communities – UN

Isolated communities living in northern Ecuador are now able to receive urgently-needed health care thanks to a new floating clinic launched with the help of the United Nations refugee agency.

Dubbed the “River Health Boat,” the mobile health service will serve 28 communities along the San Miguel River, whose inhabitants – around 40 per cent of whom are Colombians who have fled the conflict in their homeland – normally require several hours by boat to reach the nearest doctor.

The floating clinic, launched late last month, is manned by a full-time crew, one doctor and two volunteer health workers. It will carry medicine and equipment donated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for general medical check-ups, dental care and emergency treatment. All fuel costs will be paid by the local municipality.

In addition to critical medical care, refugees living in the communities can also receive vital information from UNHCR on protection and assistance issues.

Supporting the mobile health service is part of UNHCR’s efforts to assist the tens of thousands of Colombians believed to be in Ecuador, mainly in northern border areas.

“UNHCR has not forgotten that victims of the armed conflict arrive in this region every day,” its deputy representative in Ecuador, Luis Varese, said. “Together with the Ecuadorean Government, we will continue our efforts to improve living conditions for everyone.”

While there are some 18,000 registered refugees in Ecuador, the Government estimates that up to ten times that number may be in need of international protection.

UNHCR has three field offices in northern Ecuador, where it provides international protection, legal information and assistance to refugees and others living in a refugee-like situation.

In cooperation with the local and national authorities, civil society and other partners, the agency delivers humanitarian aid, basic infrastructure and income-generation programmes to improve the living conditions of refugees and host communities.