Earthquake Haiti: Medical team start surgical interventions/Second team leaving on 17 January / Delivery of medicines on 18 January /Abstract of the weekend

Earthquake Haiti: Medical team start surgical interventions/Second team leaving on 17 January / Delivery of medicines on 18 January /Abstract of the weekend

Port-au-Prince/Santo Domingo/Cologne. On Sunday, 18 January, 7.30 a.m. CET the medical team has been starting its work in a hospital in Port-au-Prince which was not totally destroyed.“Our two German medical doctors will be responsible for the emergency hospitalisation and the anaesthesia and our colleague from Malteser France who is surgeon will be in charge of the surgical interventions. The three Haitian team members, that were sent from the US associations, are medical attendants, “ Dr. Klaus Runggaldier, head of the Malteser rescue services, reports from Port-au-Prince. Friday evening the international Malteser team consisting of ten French, Haitian and German staff members, arrived in Port-au-Prince. Runggaldier reports via text-message from the crisis region: “We have gone to the capital by car, looking for diesel fuel. Even the police don’t have any. Bodies are lying everywhere in the streets. Parts of the town are under the control of the mob. We are trying to get to the airport to activate - under protection of the UN – the work of the medical team. Chaos. But we are fine so far…” 

The team now has split up: While the medical doctors are starting their work in the hospital, Dr. Georg Nothelle, emergency coordinator of Malteser International, and Dr. Klaus Runggaldier are in charge of logistics and are trying to prepare the necessary structures to support the team´s work such as accommodation, supply systems, electricity and communication. In addition, they work on the integration of their relief activities in the context of the overall relief effort. 

Today, 17 January, a second Malteser International is sent into the crisis region via Punta Cana (Dominican Republic). Annette Waechter-Schneider and Beate Maass will reinforce the medical team. “We are in continuous contact with our partners on the ground. The hospitals in the border region in the Dominican Republic meanwhile are overcrowded with injured people from Haiti”, Waechter-Schneider reports. Malteser International therefore is also planning to support these hospitals. 

On Monday, 18 January, Cesar Russo, a highly experienced logistician from Malteser International, at 7 p.m. CET will start from Oostende/Belgium to Haiti. He will take with him two emergency health kits containing urgently needed medicines to ensure medical treatment for 20.000 survivors for three months. 

For further information and pictures, please visit our website www.malteser-international.org and go to our photo gallery: http://php.malteser.de/cpg133/thumbnails.php?album=293

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Attention editors:Ingo Radtke, Secretary General of Malteser International, and team members are available for interviews. (Contact: ++49 221 98 22 155 or ++49 171 310 52 79). 

Malteser International is the worldwide relief agency of the Sovereign Order of Malta for humanitarian aid. The organisation provides aid in about 200 projects in more than 20 countries without distinction of religion, race or political persuasion. Christian values and the humanitarian principles of impartiality and independence are the foundation of its work. For further information: www.malteser-international.org and www.orderofmalta.org 

Further Information:
Petra Ipp-Zavazal
Senior Desk Officer International Communications

Telefon +49 (0) 221 9822-155
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eMail Petra.Ipp@malteser-international.org