Medical Care and Psychological and Social Services  
According to Principle 19 of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, "all wounded and sick internally displaced persons shall receive to the fullest extent possible and with the least possible delay, the medical care and attention they require without distinction on any grounds other than medical ones. When necessary, internally displaced persons shall have access to psychological and social services." Principle 19 (2) adds that, "special attention should be paid to the health needs of women, including access to female health care providers and services... as well as appropriate counseling for victims of sexual and other abuses." It continues in Principle 19 (3): "special attention should also be given to the prevention of contagious diseases." 

Residents of relief camps in Gujarat are in desperate need of medical attention and trauma counseling. In some camps, babies have been delivered without any medical support.²⁶⁵ Seven days after arriving at the Dariyakhan Ghummat camp in Ahmedabad, the residents were finally provided with sanitation facilities such as toilets, that too from a local nongovernmental organization. During the first weeks there was an outbreak of gastroenteritis in the camp and camp residents suffered from diarrhea and vomiting. Private doctors finally reached the camp a few weeks after it was set up to stem the outbreak.²⁶⁶  

By mid-April measles had broken out in the relief camps in Ahmedabad, raising fears of an epidemic. The overcrowded and unhygienic conditions in the camps-which include a shortage of toilets-have made it impossible to quarantine victims. According to a senior heath ministry official in Delhi: "People are being forced to defecate in the open,"²⁶⁷ a breeding ground for mosquitoes and fleas. "In the absence of enough tents," he added, "people are sleeping outside, exposing themselves to the virus."²⁶⁸ The Gujarat government and the union health ministry have started working with voluntary organizations to launch vaccination drives in the camps.²⁶⁹ With temperature soaring above 40 degrees celsius (105 degrees farenheit), the threat of summer diseases also loom large. The spread of cholera, gastroenteritis, jaundice, as well as respiratory infections and dehydration is also feared.²⁷⁰ The federal government announced in mid-April that it would sanction medicine worth Rs. 82.6 million for use in the camps, as requested by the Gujarat government. Although government agencies have also begun setting up medical camps, the infrastructure is reportedly inadequate.²⁷¹ The Indian Red Cross Society has also been providing medical relief in violence-affected areas.²⁷² 

The psychological impact on victims of the communal violence is immense. Aid workers have cited an urgent need for counseling to help the victims cope with their trauma.²⁷³ Sociologist Susan Vishwanathan told Channelnewsasia, "The psychological degradation that comes from watching people closest to you being killed, raped, mutilated, ravaged. These [are] far greater than that of loss of material possessions."²⁷⁴ Rape victims are also in desperate need of psychological support.  

²⁶⁵ Bose, "Ethnic Cleansing in Ahmedabad."  

²⁶⁶ Human Rights Watch interview, relief worker at Dariyakhan Ghummat camp, Ahmedabad, March 22, 2002.  

²⁶⁷ Sutirtho Patranobis, Rathin Das, "Measles outbreak in camps," Hindustan Times, April 17, 2002.  

²⁶⁸ Ibid.  

²⁶⁹ Ibid. 

²⁷⁰ Thomas Kutty Abraham, "India riot relief camps face health problems," Reuters, April 3, 2002.  

²⁷¹ "Refugees in Gujarat camps pray for more relief aids," Channelnewsasia, April 16, 2002.  

²⁷² "Indian govt to provide measles vaccine to prevent epidemic," Press Trust of India, April 18, 2002.  

²⁷³ "Muslim refugees face new horrors in camps," South China Morning Post. 

²⁷⁴ "Refugees in Gujarat camps pray for more relief aids," Channelnewsasia.