Australia sets up field hospital in typhoon-hit Tacloban Reuters Australias Ambassador to the Philippines, Bill Tweddell, visited an Australian emergency field hospital on Sunday in the typhoon-hit city of Tacloban. The field hospital has a a full emergency and resuscitation team including two surgeons. It also has a nursing compliment to run an operating theater, recovery room and a ward. Anaesthetist Brian Spain said with the citys usual operating facilities unable to function as a result of a lack of power, the work done by the field hospital is crucial. Weve had people with very serious obstructed hernias with bowel obstructions who would have normally been able to seek medical care early but theres absolutely no surgical facility in the town at all, he said. All the people here would undoubtedly be dying within a week to ten days if they werent able to get surgery, he added. Tweddell said Tacloban was unrecognizable after Typhoon Haiyan hit the city. I was here three weeks ago on the 19th of October for the commemoration, the 69th commemoration I think, of the landings when General MacArthur of course came back from our country, from Australia, to reclaim the Philippines and to look around now it is just not recognizable as the place I was here. Its enormously sad. Its affected so many live, even in our embassy and among our own colleagues, he said. The 50-bed field hospital will have enough supplies to treat 3500 people and conduct 20 operations. The Philippines is facing an enormous rebuilding task from Typhoon Haiyan, which killed at least 3,974 people and left 1,186 missing, with many isolated communities yet to receive significant aid despite a massive international relief effort. The number of people displaced by the catastrophe is now estimated to be 4 million, up from an earlier estimate of 900,000.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 06:05:35 +0000
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