Medical support beyond borders

Manama : The United High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) organised an intensive training programme for the Rohingya refugees with Yoga Therapist Fatima Al Mansoori, head of the medical support team at Bahrain Medical Aid while she was on a mission in Bangladesh to provide complementary treatment sessions such as trauma relief and prenatal sessions.

The purpose of the visit was to raise awareness and draw the attention of the international community and the Bahraini society to the tragedy of the Rohingya refugees.

The group assisted the refugees as psychologists and mental health specialists for the UNHCR along with several other doctors and volunteer specialists that provided a unique collaboration of conducting several psychosocial wellbeing support sessions and workshops at the refugee camps.

Yoga Therapist, Fatima Al Mansoori, has been working with the United Nations Refugees Agency UNHCR and its partners over the past few week, holding sessions and workshops for Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar.

The classes included home visits and workshops for volunteer Rohingya Community Outreach Members, who carry out a house to house visits, spreading information messages and referring vulnerable individuals for follow up services.

“At a session attended by 14 Rohingya Community Outreach Members in Chakmarkul refugee settlement, participants were excited to have taken part,” UNHCR_BGD stated on their twitter handle,

Yoga Therapist, Fatima Al Mansoori, further told DT News, “Well-being integrative services, such as yoga and mindfulness, should not just be for the privileged. There was a 21-year-old boy Mohammad Ayas who told me that he wants to do more classes and feels more relaxed after the session.”

“Also I had a 30-year-old tell me that this is the first time they have done something like this and they are looking forward to continues the exercises we taught them. I believe that these people need these sessions the most.”

“They have not felt safety and stability and they are under a lot of stress. I wanted to offer this as part of integrative psycho-social support. We use techniques to help people manage stress and trauma relief and to improve the quality of their daily life.” 

“The feedback has been excellent. You can see their faces light up after the session”, she said. “The refugees tell me that they feel more relaxed and comfortable and that they need more of these sessions,” Al Mansoori added.

“We must pay attention to the challenging condition of the refugees and the tragedy they are living in. 

“The rainy season is expected in March, which may cause floods and landslides which will put the lives of the Rohingya refugees at serious risk as they are living in weak shelters prone to collapse. 

“They will face many health challenges as diseases may arise. This can turn into a very painful humanitarian disaster if they do not receive the necessary support,” she added. 

Fatima travelled on a mission to Bangladesh on the 7th of February representing Bahrain Medical Aid in association with the Alliance of International Doctors and has been working with as many refugees as she can during her visit.