Doctor says more than 50 essential medical items were delivered to the hospital

A senior health official inside the conflict zone in north-eastern Sri Lanka, Dr T Varatharaja, said that more than fifty essential medical items, including vaccines for children, were delivered to the hospital in Putumatalan in the Mullaitivu district with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan says that this was the first consignment of medicines to the hospital in the conflict zone in north-eastern Sri Lanka in over two weeks.

International concern

The delivery comes amid increasing international concern over the condition of tens of thousands of civilians caught up in the fighting between security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Doctors at the hospital had earlier said that the facility had almost stopped functioning due to the shortage of medicines, putting the lives of hundreds of sick and war-wounded at risk.

	Over 40,000 civilians have already fled fighting, officials say

Dr Varatharaja also says that despite repeated requests they haven't been sent the anaesthetic and blood bags required for surgery in the latest consignment.

The official's version cannot be independently confirmed and the government maintains that it continues to send the required medicine and food to civilians trapped inside rebel-controlled territory.

Earlier the Sri Lankan military said another thousand civilians fled the war zone to government-controlled areas.

The civilians, including nearly four-hundred children, are said to be sheltering in government-held areas near Puthkkudiyirippu, where fierce battles have been raging between the Tamil Tigers and the army.

There's no independent confirmation of the figures, and the Sri Lankan military gave no details of its own casualties.

Civilians have fled the area in increasing numbers recently as the army presses on with its offensive.