France sent on Tuesday 1 March, two civilian aircraft loaded with equipment and medical personnel to Benghazi via Cairo. A team from Doctors Without Borders was able to enter Libya on February 24. Its eight members, including three doctors, are now in Benghazi. Anne Chatelain, medical coordinator, is part of the team.
We assessed the situation in six hospitals in the city and its environs. What is certain is that we are not facing a health desert. Benghazi has structures well equipped with operating rooms, intensive care units, monitors and ventilators in good working condition. This is not chaos, and even if the equipment level decreases as the distance from Benghazi, the situation remains pretty good.
Everywhere, the medical teams are well trained. The problem is that hospitals are understaffed. Many Indian and Filipino nurses have left the country when the violence erupted. They are replaced by students, services are organized. The International Committee of the Red Cross is also present, as well as doctors and nurses who came to Egypt for themselves with drugs to rescue their neighbors.
Doctors faced a huge influx of injured between 17 and 21 February. People shot dead by a bullet, with open wounds, among others. Services were stormed and there are still patients waiting for surgery. It will also have to monitor patients who will benefit from rehabilitation, but now the urgency has passed.
Hospitals need most drugs, anesthetics, and that's why we came with ten tonnes of equipment and drugs. The team has made donations, including supplies, bandages, suture son, anesthetics and external fixators. We expect 21 tons more in the coming days. Another team is also in the Tunisian border.
We arrived there shortly, but for now we have not seen this type of crisis. Food stores are open and offer all kinds of products: orange, meat, dairy ... Canned and nonperishable food abound. I do not see people rushing into stores to stock. The population is rather quiet, however. There is a sense of freedom and solidarity extraordinary.
In town, near the port, there is a place that serves as a gathering place where people come to discuss, help each other. There are free food distribution. The welcome we received everywhere we went was very warm. Interview by Elise Barthet 
We assessed the situation in six hospitals in the city and its environs. What is certain is that we are not facing a health desert. Benghazi has structures well equipped with operating rooms, intensive care units, monitors and ventilators in good working condition. This is not chaos, and even if the equipment level decreases as the distance from Benghazi, the situation remains pretty good.
Everywhere, the medical teams are well trained. The problem is that hospitals are understaffed. Many Indian and Filipino nurses have left the country when the violence erupted. They are replaced by students, services are organized. The International Committee of the Red Cross is also present, as well as doctors and nurses who came to Egypt for themselves with drugs to rescue their neighbors.
Doctors faced a huge influx of injured between 17 and 21 February. People shot dead by a bullet, with open wounds, among others. Services were stormed and there are still patients waiting for surgery. It will also have to monitor patients who will benefit from rehabilitation, but now the urgency has passed.
Hospitals need most drugs, anesthetics, and that's why we came with ten tonnes of equipment and drugs. The team has made donations, including supplies, bandages, suture son, anesthetics and external fixators. We expect 21 tons more in the coming days. Another team is also in the Tunisian border.
We arrived there shortly, but for now we have not seen this type of crisis. Food stores are open and offer all kinds of products: orange, meat, dairy ... Canned and nonperishable food abound. I do not see people rushing into stores to stock. The population is rather quiet, however. There is a sense of freedom and solidarity extraordinary.
In town, near the port, there is a place that serves as a gathering place where people come to discuss, help each other. There are free food distribution. The welcome we received everywhere we went was very warm. Interview by Elise Barthet
- Desert crossing sees refugees and rally cars (03/03/2011)
- Overview Craft Marble's Tulungagung in East Java (26/01/2011)
- Phen này ông quyết đi buôn chuối (24/02/2011)
- Cholera in Africa: lessons on transmission and control for Latin America (18/02/2011)
- The association between unhealthy behaviors and socioeconomic status differs between countries (22/02/2011)
No comments:
Post a Comment