eds) was so heavy (117 admissions) that a team normally based in Kao-I-Dang had to be sent there. During this emergency period, i.e. between January and June, 1,200 war wounded were admitted to these two hospitals which also dealt with 962 other emergency cases. Since military activities in the northern sector had noticeably diminished, the hospital in Kab Cherng was converted into a first-aid post at the end of June. However, the hospital still retains its surgical capacity and can be func- tional again in less than six hours should the need arise.
Thanks to regular consignments of blood sent by the Red Cross Societies of Australia, New Zealand and Japan, the blood bank set up in Kao-I-Dang was able to meet the urgent requirements of the two hospitals.
Along the border, ambulances and medical staff were on standby to evacuate the wounded and other emergency cases. During the fighting, first-aid posts and casualty clearing posts for the wounded were set up in co- operation with other organizations; from here those with minor wounds were evacuated to the hospitals belonging to UNBRO and voluntary agencies while the seriously wounded were evacuated to the two ICRC hospitals.
Vietnamese land refugees (VNLRs): particularly vulnerable
At the beginning of 1985, 4,000 Vietnamese refugees (VNLRS) who had crossed Kampuchea to reach the Thai-
Kampuchean border were placed in the camp in Dongrek, in the central sector. Isolated in the midst of the Khmer population, these Vietnamese are a particularly vulnera- ble group because they are obliged to live in a potentially hostile environment; this is why the ICRC pays close attention to them and assumes responsibility for their protection.
After several shells had fallen on various sections of Dongrek which also housed 17,000 Khmers, the camp was evacuated on 24 January and the VNLRS regrouped in two successive evacuation sites — in March -
in a spe- cially equipped area of site 2. Contacts were first made in 1983 with the Thai authorities and in co-operation with the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration (ICM)—to countries likely to give a permanent home to these refugees. As a result, an examination procedure for individual cases was drawn up in 1984. After the Thai authorities had given their agreement, representatives from possible host countries began "screening" refugees at the end of 1984, selecting from amongst some 3,600 VNLRS registered at that time.
Of 3,600 people, 1,478 were accepted by other countries. This number represents 40 per cent of the cases which had been submitted. Those who had not been accepted - together with new VNLRs arriving daily at the border are still in site 2.
At the beginning of December 1985 another screening
First aid given to someone wounded on the Thai-Kampuchean border (Yannick Müller)
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