“Almost 80 percent of my patients had diarrhea and dysentery!” he said. He asked not to be identified in fear of retribution from the military regime.

“In the first week [after the cyclone], most of the patients caught a cold,” he said, while working at a monastery near Daydanaw village, where he treated about 60 patients in two and one-half hours.

“I feel regret for not having a chance to give enough time to my patients here. Many of them need a more thorough check up,” he said. “There are just too few doctors to treat too many patients.”

Other volunteer doctors and medical personnel are finding the same symptoms in the worst hit areas of Kungyangone, Dedaye, Pyapon, Bogalay and Laputta.

Health conditions among the storm victims are in a precarious state two weeks after the storm, according to medical staff, because of the junta’s refusal to allow aid and medical staff to reach the victims in a timely fashion.

“The junta is to blame in this regard,” said another doctor working with an NGO. “They didn’t take the health issue seriously.”

He said the junta’s lack of response has caused increasing numbers of illnesses and a risk of epidemics.

The lack of sufficient food, even in areas where relief camps have been established, is also placing refugees at greater risk, he said, because many people suffer from malnutrition.

The lack of nutritious food and proper shelter combine to lower patients’ resistance, making them more susceptible to serious illnesses.

Adding to the problem of a lack of relief supplies and medicine is a widespread lack of information about disease-related issues, such as waste disposal, sanitation and hygiene. Much of the delta population is simply uninformed about such issues, say doctors.

People in many areas are forced to use water from wells, rivers and lakes where bodies have been decomposing. The lack of sanitation facilities has filled the water supply and the ground water with fecal matter and other disease-bearing materials.

“The way they eat and the way they excrete are no longer healthy, since so many people have no access to proper sanitation,” said one doctor.

The number of existing clinics in the area prior to the disaster was already inadequate, he said, because the regime has never employed enough health workers. Volunteer doctors from Rangoon and doctors attached to NGOs are playing an essential role in getting some medical supplies and services to the major relief camps and most remote areas.

Still, many areas are out of the reach of health workers, because of lack of transportation and organization.

“The junta should take the lead in getting medical services to the victims,” said one NGO expert.

Meanwhile, a relatively small number of NGO-attached medical staff and volunteer medical personnel are trying to cope with an overwhelming number of patients.