Medical team leave for emergency relief in the disaster region

Malteser International is preparing the deployment of an expert medical team from Germany and France to support local Malteser teams on the ground. ‘Our colleagues in Haiti are fully aware that basic medical care and the provision of clean drinking water are matters of top priority now,’ Ingo Radtke, Secretary General of Malteser International, explains. The emergency relief of Malteser International is coordinated within the worldwide international network of the Order of Malta.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti in the late evening yesterday, with reports giving many hundreds dead, thousands injured and leaving countless people homeless. Grey dust covers the area where as yet an unknown number of buildings and homes have been destroyed. There is significant damage to the infrastructure, roads and the communication system.

‘Due to the soil erosion, our capital lacks a solid base. With mudslides following the earthquake, the slums built on the hills have completely slipped off,’ reports Eduard Aimé from Haiti.’Even the more solid buildings like the presidential palace, the ministries and the cathedral have been severely damaged.’

For 15 years the Order of Malta, through its Associations in the United States, has been supporting a hospital (Hôpital Sacré Coeur, Milot) in the north of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. The 73-bed hospital is the only one in the region. In 2008, Hôpital Sacré Coeur treated 56,000 outpatients, with over 4,100 hospital admissions and 1,262 newborn deliveries. There is no other pharmacy or laboratory in the area, so last year the hospital filled 136,000 prescriptions and completed over 77,000 lab tests.