The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, most of Haiti’s 10 million people live on less than $2 a day. The severe economic situation, combined with increased fuel and food costs, the effect of natural disasters and chronic unemployment has placed a serious burden on an already vulnerable population.
On 12 January 2010 a powerful earthquake struck Haiti, leaving as many as 230,000 people dead and 1.2 million displaced and living in temporary shelter. The earthquake exacerbated an already inadequate health situation, with the collapse of at least eight hospitals and health centres in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Those facilities still standing are stretched beyond capacity with limited health workers to respond to the increasing number of patients.
HOW MERLIN IS HELPING:
Emergency response
Merlin launched an emergency response within 48 hours of the earthquake and mobilised a specialised surgical and medical team to Delmas 33, a suburb of Port-au-Prince. On an abandoned tennis court, Merlin established a fully functional, tented surgical hospital. The field hospital has four ward tents, a surgical theatre with two operating tables, 40 beds for in-patient treatment, a lab and an out-patient dispensary - treating upwards of 300 people in one day.
Our surgical team is saving lives and limbs as well as performing reconstructive surgery and more complicated surgical interventions when follow-up or staged operations are needed.
Merlin has built on a dual approach - combining an orthopaedic and plastic surgeon - from the earthquake response in Padang, Indonesia. It has clearly proven to save lives and limbs in patients with common earthquake-related injuries. As more complex cases emerge that require a more sophisticated environment, Merlin has started to phase out its surgical intervention and will close the hospital in early April.
Health staff are working with patients who need ongoing treatment and follow-up care, providing referrals for physical rehabilitation and prosthetics as needed. We continue to assess how we can support government institutions to provide support to orthopaedics and plastics in the long-term.
To ensure patients stay healthy while they rebuild their lives, Merlin provides a discharge kit that includes a tent, a mosquito net, a cooking set, a hygiene kit, a blanket and mattress.
Mobile clinics
In partnership with Medicos del Mundo (MDM Spain), Merlin is operating a mobile clinic team in and around the rural areas of Petit Goave and Grand Goave, which are two hours from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The mobile clinic circuit includes seven villages — each are underserved with significant health needs. Merlin’s teams of doctors and nurses will offer basic, maternal and neo-natal health care, while referring more severe cases to local hospitals for secondary treatment as needed. A second team will begin once local assessments are completed.
Merlin is carrying out additional assessments in camps around Delmas 33 to identify health needs in camps for two more mobile clinic teams.
Long-term support
We work in coordination with the Ministry of Health to support existing health structures, providing supplies and equipment as well as training and supervising local health workers to help rebuild the capacity of Haiti’s health system.
Key achievements
- Surgical teams have completed over 370 procedures in two months
- Treating up to 315 people a day at our surgical unit in Delmas 33, Port-au Prince, seeing over 5,600 patients in total
- Delivering over 37 tonnes of medical supplies
Donors supporting Merlin’s work
DFID, SIDA, DEC, Man Group, World Jewish Relief, Provincial Grand Lodge of Surrey, The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation and many other corporate and private donors.
Read more about Haiti
Baby Merline: A remarkable birth in Haiti
1 Jun 10: As told by Cezanne, a nurse and team leader for one of Merlin’s mobile clinics.
Mending broken bones in Haiti: Madeleine and Dr Jim
18 Mar 10: Field diary from Haiti.
Meet Dianna in Haiti: A little girl who danced and sung her way into our hearts
12 Feb 10: In a busy tented surgical unit in Port-au-Prince, surrounded by patients and doctors hard at work, one little girl has found time to play, smile and dance her way into everyone’s hearts.
Haiti: Final field diary from 'surgical fixer'
25 Jan 10: Richard Villar heads up Merlin's emergency surgical team in Haiti. In his final field diary entry, he writes about the surgical facility where Merlin is operating and looks to the future.
Haiti: "Aid is getting in – make no mistake!"
22 Jan 10: Merlin's Alex Cottin writes about an extraordinary day in Haiti.
|