Community | January 18, 2010 | 29 comments

Doctors Without Borders Cargo Plane With Full Hospital and Staff Blocked From Landing in Port-au-Pri

source: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=4165&cat=press-release

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WeAreChangeKy
Port-au-Prince/Paris /New York, 17 January 2009—Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) urges that its cargo planes carrying essential medical and surgical material be allowed to land in Port-au-Prince in order to treat thousands of wounded waiting for vital surgical operations. Priority must be given immediately to planes carrying lifesaving equipment and medical personnel.

Despite guarantees, given by the United Nations and the US Defense Department, an MSF cargo plane carrying an inflatable surgical hospital was blocked from landing in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, and was re-routed to Samana, in Dominican Republic. All material from the cargo is now being sent by truck from Samana, but this has added a 24-hour delay for the arrival of the hospital.

A second MSF plane is currently on its way and scheduled to land today in Port- au-Prince at around 10 am local time with additional lifesaving medical material and the rest of the equipment for the hospital. If this plane is also rerouted then the installation of the hospital will be further delayed, in a situation where thousands of wounded are still in need of life saving treatment.

The inflatable hospital includes 2 operating theaters, an intensive care unit, 100-bed hospitalization capacity, an emergency room and all the necessary equipment needed for sterilizing material.

MSF teams are currently working around the clock in 5 different hospitals in Port-au-Prince, but only 2 operating theaters are fully functional, while a third operating theater has been improvised for minor surgery due to the massive influx of wounded and lack of functional referral structures.
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics
  2. tags:
    Earthquake,  Haiti,  Surgery,  Hospitals,  13 more
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29 comments // Doctors Without Borders Cargo Plane With Full Hospital and Staff Blocked From Landing in Port-au-Pri

  • JonRaymond
  • SamuraiDave
  • Terry_La_France
  • Terry_La_France
  • JonRaymond
  • hack26
    • 0
      hack26  

    • What I don't get is why the plane was re-routed to the Samana airport, one of the furthest from Haiti. There are much closer international airports in the Dominican Republic.

    • 2 years ago
  • hack26
    • 0
      hack26  

    • UPDATE: January 18, 2010

      The Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) plane filled with supplies needed to establish an inflatable tent field hospital landed at approximately 11 am local time, Sunday, January 17, in Port-au-Prince.

      However, another MSF cargo plane carrying vital medical supplies to replenish stocks for Choscal hospital, where an MSF team is working on a backlog of patients needing surgery, was not allowed to land in Port-au-Prince on Sunday, January 17, and was forced to re-route to the Dominican Republic, where it landed. Choscal hospital will run out of medical supplies in less than 24 hours and its cold chain system for preserving medicines and vaccines at the proper temperatures could be compromised if this cargo plane is not able to fly into Port-au-Prince immediately.

      More than 500 patients in need of surgery have been transferred from Martissant to Choscal hospital in Cite Soleil. MSF teams are focusing on lifesaving surgery (open wounds, fractures, burns, amputations, and emergency obstetrics). They’ve been working around the clock and have done more than 90 surgeries since the operating theater became functional. Priority is given to lifesaving interventions, such as amputations carried out on patients with gangrene triggered by infected wounds.

      How many cargo flights has MSF successfully flown into Port-au-Prince? 4

      What is their total tonnage? 135

      How many cargo flights has MSF successfully flown into the Dominican Republic? 2

      What is their total tonnage? 65

      How many cargo flights are planned for the rest of this week? 6

      What is their total tonnage? 195

    • 2 years ago
  • ras_menelik
  • trut
  • EdJoyProductions
  • fun_size
    • 0
      fun_size  

    • Do you guys really think its the soldiers? Personally id like to think that ALL FLIGHTS are being backed up due to a lack of heavy loading equipment and proper facilities. I mean I wouldnt doubt that US soldiers are giving priority to American planes but i really sincerely doubt they are purposefully making it difficult to land life saving equipment.

    • 2 years ago
  • SamuraiDave
  • comicahzy
    • 0
      comicahzy  
    • fun_size:

      Honestly, I don't know. The medical need is just as crucial as the heavy equipment. Perhaps there are innocent poor judgement decisions in effect but the military is most likely in control of the airport. I support our troops, but sometimes military logic is lacking.

    • 2 years ago
  • Saladin
  • common_sense_please
    • 0
      common_sense_please  

    • It is the direct result of the news media idiots clogging up the airport runway and walking around filming video rather than actually helping distribute food or water or supplies that people are dying and waiting unnecessarily for help.

      They are nothing but criminals and should be held accountable for their complete lack of compassion and their idiotic and selfish choices to send hundreds of reporters with no food or water or medical supplies -but with plenty of cameras and shiny teeth and opportunity to obtain money shots of the dead or dying-- to Haiti in the first 24 hours after the disaster.

    • 2 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • common_sense_please:

      Lemme get this straight, reporters and not soldiers are the bad guys here?

      Yeah, we don't need coverage of the situation but we certainly need a military occupation denying medical care coming in.

      Gimme a break.

    • 2 years ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • goodname
  • ryan8566
  • CalgarC
  • comicahzy
    • 0
      comicahzy  
    • CalgarC:

      I was watching interviews with the troops sent in and they do not have proper medical staff. They should be going out of their way right now to provide a landing strip for Doctors Without Borders. There is no excuse.

    • 2 years ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • common_sense_please
    • 0
      common_sense_please  
    • CalgarC:

      Yes he's an idiot to claim that its the troops fault for the delay rather than blaming the true culprits the media reporters who slobbered over each other to get the story out and blocked the airport runways and roads so that they could send out pictures of the devastation.

    • 2 years ago
  • CalgarC
  • EdJoyProductions
    • 0
      EdJoyProductions  
    • CalgarC:

      Unless I am severely mistaken, the military and rescue groups should have control of the airport. If they are allowing the media to land ahead of rescue personnel and supplies, they are criminally negligent.

    • 2 years ago
  • JonRaymond
  • EthicalVegan
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