Arakan News Agency
The international humanitarian organization Save the Children has inaugurated the Mother and Child Hospital in the city of Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh, with the aim of providing health services to pregnant women, new mothers, and newborns from Rohingya refugees and host communities.
According to the Arakan News website, the new hospital has 60 beds and operates around the clock, offering emergency services and safe childbirth, with plans to expand services soon to include cesarean delivery, emergency neonatal care, and blood transfusion services.
Currently, the hospital provides a wide range of essential services, including outpatient and inpatient care, diagnostic and medication services, pre- and postnatal care, nutritional support, in addition to services responding to gender-based violence, emergency care, and referrals.
The opening of the hospital comes at a critical time, after the closure of many health centers in Cox’s Bazar due to declining donor funding, leaving thousands of vulnerable families without access to medical care.
Humanitarian workers emphasize that the new hospital will play a vital role in meeting maternal and child health needs in the Teknaf and Ukhiya areas, where pressures on healthcare services remain high due to overcrowding and ongoing humanitarian challenges.
A humanitarian official said, “Safe childbirth and a healthy start in life are fundamental human rights,” adding that the hospital will be a lifeline for women and children living under severe pressures.
Bangladesh hosts more than one million Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar camps, which the United Nations classifies as the largest refugee camp in the world. Refugees there have lived in difficult humanitarian conditions since fleeing Myanmar in 2017 due to the “genocide” campaign carried out by the Myanmar army against them. Waves of displacement to Bangladesh have resumed since fighting broke out in Arakan State between the Myanmar army and Arakan Buddhist militias (Arakan Army) in November 2023.
