And when they do it, they do it wrong
Apropos the last post about the EU waffling on aid to Haiti.
Here is a wonderful news item about some Belgian doctors. From
CNN World:
Security concerns cause doctors to leave hospital, quake victims
Earthquake victims, writhing in pain and grasping at life, watched doctors and nurses walk away from a field hospital Friday night after a Belgian medical team evacuated the area, saying it was concerned about security.
The decision left CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta as the only doctor at the hospital to get the patients through the night.
CNN initially reported, based on conversations with some of the doctors, that the United Nations ordered the Belgian First Aid and Support Team to evacuate. However, Belgian Chief Coordinator Geert Gijs, a doctor who was at the hospital with 60 Belgian medical personnel, said it was his decision to pull the team out for the night.
Afraid of poverty? The boogie man? The soon-to-be dead?
A bit more:
CNN video from the scene Friday night shows the Belgian team packing up its supplies and leaving with an escort of blue-helmeted U.N. peacekeepers in marked trucks.
Emphasis mine -- leave if you do not feel secure but don't take the medicines and supplies too...
A bit more:
Gupta -- assisted by other CNN staffers, security personnel and at least one Haitian nurse who refused to leave -- assessed the needs of the 25 patients, but there was little they could do without supplies.
More people, some in critical condition, were trickling in late Friday.
"I've never been in a situation like this. This is quite ridiculous," Gupta said.
With a dearth of medical facilities in Haiti's capital, ambulances had nowhere else to take patients, some of whom had suffered severe trauma -- amputations and head injuries -- under the rubble. Others had suffered a great deal of blood loss, but there were no blood supplies left at the clinic.
Gupta feared that some would not survive the night.
He and the others stayed with the injured all night, after the medical team had left and after the generators gave out and the tents turned pitch black.
Gupta monitored patients' vital signs, administered painkillers and continued intravenous drips. He stabilized three new patients in critical condition.
At 3:45 a.m., he posted a message on Twitter: "pulling all nighter at haiti field hosp. lots of work, but all patients stable. turned my crew into a crack med team tonight."
If there is any justice in the world, Dr. Gupta will get next years Nobel Peace Prize -- this is the sort of heroism and selflessness that it is intended for.
And yes, let's move the United Nations out of New York City -- Dubai is well suited for them.
And, for a bit of a history refresher, check out the WikiPedia entry for the
1994 Rwandan Genocide
The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces had a large presence there, mostly Belgian, and they could have prevented the killing of up to 1,000,000 people. They bailed out because they didn't feel
secure there.
Posted by DaveH at January 17, 2010 4:23 PM