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Haiti: 10 operating rooms running day and night

Published 20 January 2010

 

Teams of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical staff have been working through the long queues of patients waiting for treatment and surgery, even as Port-au-Prince was shaken again by a very substantial aftershock this morning. In Choscal Hospital, where staff have been working around-the-clock in two operating theatres for days to deal with the seriously injured, the patients were so alarmed by the tremors they once again had to be taken out of the building and put into tents in the grounds outside. The operating theatres have continued to function with four surgical teams rotating through the day.

In Carrefour Hospital, the team has started psychological support for the patients who have had limbs amputated, including support for their families. A different form of intensive post-operative care is underway as physiotherapy work with burn patients has started in another hospital, while the dialysis treatment of crush victims continues in the large General Hospital. Six patients have now been treated with dialysis and the team is using a detection test to identify other patients with crush injuries who need this intensive care.

Every functional operating theatre is being used night and day, while logistical staff are racing to set up new ones or rehabilitate damaged ones. MSF surgical teams have been carrying out an average of 130 operations per day for the last few days and this is increasing as new surgical teams start work. There are now 10 operating theatres, seven in Port-au-Prince hospitals (Choscal, Trinité, Carrefour and Chancerelle hospitals) and three in towns in the west of the capital (Léogâne and Jacmel). In addition, minor surgical procedures like cleaning and removing dead tissue from wounds are taking place in small operating theatres in Trinité and Pacot hospitals.

Capacity will continue to increase as additional operating theatres are being set up in Port-au-Prince and in the west of the island in Léogâne and Grand-Goâve. MSF is setting up an inflatable hospital with two operating theatres and 100 beds on a field in Port-au-Prince. The team expect to have it functioning Friday morning.

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