Merlin is sending out a surgical team to treat some of the thousands of people injured in
the recent earthquake in Indonesia. The team, to fly out on Sunday and Monday, includes two surgeons, an anaesthetist, two nurses, a health coordinator and a project coordinator.
They’ll be taking surgical equipment and medical supplies with them, ready to perform emergency surgery and deal with traumatic injuries as soon as they arrive. Paula Sansom,
Merlin’s Emergency Response Manager says: “Thousands of people have been trapped under buildings and are suffering from broken bones and abdominal trauma. There is an
urgent need for surgical staff and equipment.â€The main hospital in Padang, which was the only one equipped to perform surgery, was severely damaged and only two hospitals are
functioning. One of the surgeons, Asad Syed, is an Irish orthopaedic and trauma consultant, currently working at a hospital in North Wales. He has experience of working in the
aftermaths of earthquakes, having worked as a surgeon following the earthquakes in China in 2008 and Kashmir in 2005. During his missions, he performed daily operations, involving complex limb
injuries and tissue loss, and also helped to train local surgeons.Flora Henderson, from Buckden in Cambridgeshire, has over 15 years experience in nursing, most recently specialising as a
theatre nurse at a hospital in Cambridgeshire. Sean Keogh, a former A&E consultant, joins the team as a health assessor looking at the more medium/long term health needs. He has
worked in Indonesia before, having worked on Merlin’s response following the tsunami in 2004. The team will be led by Diego Moroso, who previously worked as an
operational coordinator for Merlin in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Support our work. Please donate now
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Men look into the bonnet of a crushed car outside a dealership in central Padang in Indonesia's West Sumatra province October 3, 2009. Rescue teams pushed deeper into Indonesia's earthquake-hit Sumatra ...
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