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HAITI / INJURED
STORY: HAITI / INJURED
TRT: 2:07
SOURCE: MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21 JANURY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI
1. Med shot, destroyed University Hospital (main general hospital) sign
2. Wide shot, facade of the University Hospital
3. Wide shot, entrance into courtyard of hospital
4. Med shot, patients getting treatment in the courtyard
5. Med shot, young injured boy is carried into ward by his family
6. Close up, handwritten sign for orthopedics
7. Wide shot, German doctor attends to an infected fracture patient in the hallway
8. Close up, gloved hands writing notes
9. Med shot, doctor cutting away week-old bloody bandages
10. Close up, doctor's face
11. Med shot, cutting away bloody bandages
12. Close up, patient receives pain killers by drops in the mouth
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Clemens Schelling, International Medical Corps:
"Well it's very difficult to treat the people here because for a long time they haven't seen any doctor. So wounds like this might be one week old without treatment, infected, open fractures. And they didn't receive any medication for pain either. I think it's the first time he receives medication for pain. We might operate. We'll see how it goes."
14. Wide shot, exterior of radiology dept
15. Med shot, the only existing X-Ray machine in the hospital
16. Med shot, doctor looks at X-ray
17. Med shot, X-Ray results
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Alix Lassegue, University Hospital Director
"This institution served as the site to receive the majority of the corpses that were lying in the street. We received a lot of corpse nearby our morgue."
19. Med shot, doctor with syringe
20. Med shot, medical personnel hold a patient while disinfecting an open wound
21. Wide shot, city residents carry a coffin up the street
As the humanitarian response to Haiti's earthquake intensifies, the main concerns for health care providers have become emergency surgery, treatment of wounds and tetanus prevention.
Dr. Clemens Schelling from the International Medical Corps who is currently working at the University Hospital in Port au Prince, said that many patients are coming into the hospital with infected wounds that are a week old.
The hospital treated 1,500 people on the first day after the quake and have so far performed 100 amputations. Many medical teams, both Haitian and international, are working around the clock to treat the steady stream of patients coming in with infected wounds and open fractures.
Relief workers warn that the death toll could increase from untreated severe injuries refereed to as “crushed syndrome”. Medical clinics have 12-day patient backlogs and experts say that untreated injuries are festering and makeshift camps housing thousands of survivors could foster disease.
“Crushed syndrome” refers to a body part being subjected to a high degree of force or pressure, usually after being squeezed between two heavy objects, a common occurrence in an earthquake such as Haiti’s.
Untreated major fractures and open wounds in dismal hygienic conditions, and the lack of food and water are creating the conditions for a sanitary catastrophe, with thousands of patients at risk.
The lack of medical supplies is making doctors in many cases having to make the tough decision of amputating a limb or having the patient die.
As death toll rises, Dr. Alix Lassegue, Director at the University Hospital Director, added that the hospital is also serving as a “site to receive the majority of the corpses that were lying in the street."
Logistics to support emergency operations are gradually being put in place. Medical supplies and equipment are arriving daily, highlighting the need for strong coordination.
The arrival of the United States Navy hospital ship Comfort as well as medical teams from countries such as Israel, Cuba, and Portugal are helping ease the medical crisis, but much remains to be done.
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