A 9-month-old baby died at an evacuation center outside the conflict zone early Saturday morning amid an escalating humanitarian crisis more than a month into the fighting between government troops and terrorists in the once bustling urban center.
The baby’s father was seen carrying his baby girl, wrapped in sheets, outside the Mahad Abdelazis Evacuation Center in Balo-i, Lanao del Norte to a pump boat that would transport the infant to her final resting place.
The baby’s mother was weeping upon seeing her child. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) immediately facilitated the transport and interment of the deceased baby.
Department of Health Station Nurse Pamela Semera said the baby already had a history of severe acute malnutrition before she passed away.
“Malnourished na talaga ‘yung bata, masyado siya[ng] maliit, may history na na-admit na siya before,” Semera said.
(The kid was already really malnourished, she was too small. She was already admitted [in the hospital] before.)
Semera, however, noted that there were other cases of malnutrition among children at the evacuation center.
“May na-check kami (we checked something), moderate acute malnutrition. In the process, everyday kami nagbibigay ng (we give) supplemental food,” Semera said.
More than 200,000 residents have fled Marawi City due to the ongoing conflict between government troops and Maute terrorists.
As of 6 p.m. Thursday, the government placed the death toll in the Marawi crisis at 429, among them 303 terror suspects, 82 government troops, and 44 civilians.
But it’s not just malnutrition that displaced children have been dealing with. Others have started to become sickly.
Evacuee Norma Angin’s three children are also sick with fever and diarrhea. The other one just had surgery on the appendix.
Angin laments that she has no money to pay for her children’s medicine.
“Naiiyak ako. Wala akong pera, kawawa siya eh,” Angin said while in tears.
(I feel like crying. I have no money. Poor child.)
Records of the provincial crisis management committee show that the five most common health problems in evacuation centers now are upper respiratory tract infection, hypertension, influenza, allergic dermatitis, and acute respiratory infection.
Aside from food and medicine, other items that evacuees need are pillows, foam beds, electric fans, kettles, diapers for babies, water buckets, slippers, and mosquito repellent.
Story: Ron Gagalac, ABS-CBN News
