WMJ 03 2010 - World Medical Association

Regional and NMA news
Brazilian Medical Association – SOS Haiti
Soon after the earthquake hit Haiti on 12
January, the Brazilian Medical Association
(AMB) started to receive numerous calls
from doctors asking how they could help.
Two days later, a cabinet crisis was installed
at the AMB´s headquarters to organise
the available resources. On 15 January, we
started an online application at our website
to register all the volunteers to help the
victims of the tragedy. In 15 days, we had
976 healthcare workers volunteering to go
to Haiti.
While resources were being organised in
Brazil, Ricardo Affonso Ferreira, leader of
“Expedicionários da Saúde” (a NGO partner
of the AMB), went to Haiti to access
the situation. He found the Brenda Strafford
Hospital, in Les Cayes, a small town
situated 192 kilometres from Port au Prince
that was not affected by the disaster. Within
a few days the local population doubled after
the arrival of 60 000 refugees. The Brenda
Strafford Institute is an ophthalmology
and otolaryngology hospital that later was
adapted to treat orthopaedic trauma patients.
In 45 days the AMB sent three teams to
Haiti, 28 doctors (among them our president),
12 nurses and 4 radiology technicians.
A lot of equipment, donated by private
companies and public institutions, was
carried by the three teams to treat patients.
To give an idea, the second team alone,
took 1500 kilos of equipment with them.
The first two teams used regular commercial
flights to go to Haiti, arriving at Santo
Domingo, Republica Dominicana and then
they travelled by bus to Les Cayes. The last
team was taken straight to Port au Prince by
the Brazilian Air Force.
The three teams performed 219 surgeries in
148 patients, mostly in men, the mean age
was 31 years. Lower limbs were the most
affected segments and the use of external
fixator was the most common type of treatment.
At the outpatient clinic, over 1500
people were treated.
“I consider that all three missions were
successful. We felt privileged to be able to
represent all physicians who could not go.
The continuity of this work will be done in
different ways and one of them is the creation
of a task force trained for disasters«,
said José Luiz Gomes do Amaral, president
of AMB. “We also look forward to establishing
a worldwide network of physicians,
national medical associations and resourses
ready to be used after a disaster of this proportion.”
Helena Fernandes,
Communication Department,
Brazilian Medical Association
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