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Sr. Member - Chef de la Patrie
Total Posts: 6218
Joined 2008-07-10
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NOVEMBER 12, 2010.
Aid Spawns Backlash in Haiti .
Wall Street Journal
By JOS� DE C�RDOBA
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti?The Hopital de l'Universite d'Etat d'Haiti, the country's largest public hospital, is so chronically underfunded and decrepit that it has the reputation as a place where people come to die, not get better.
After January's devastating earthquake, there was hope the hospital could turn things around. Scores of foreign doctors from international medical charities flew in to treat the injured. Charities donated new equipment, and the hospital set up its first intensive care unit. There was talk of ongoing cooperation with foreign medical schools.
Ten months later, the foreign doctors and charities are gone. The intensive care unit is closed. An unused defibrillator and a cardiac monitor lie askew atop a cart. Nobody at the hospital is trained on how to use either piece of equipment.
The challenges to remaking Haiti's public health-care system are on display at the Hopital de l'Universite. Its annual budget is just $5 million, 95% of which goes to pay salaries. As a comparison, MSF raised $100 million for its Haiti program after the quake. The Red Cross raised $816 million.
Hours after the quake hit, the hospital became a bloody triage center. Hundreds of injured Haitians lay on the ground in front of the complex, screaming in pain or lying in shocked, stunned silence. The nursing school collapsed, killing some 30 student nurses. The badly cracked pediatric wing was evacuated, forcing patients into makeshift army tents.
Within days, scores of foreign doctors arrived, working around the clock in horrific conditions, sometimes performing amputations without anesthetic.
To manage relations with the foreign doctors, Dr. Lassegue asked two prominent NGOs, California-based International Medical Corps, known as IMC, and Partners in Health to act as the liaison with all other medical groups working in the hospital.
At the height of the emergency, there were 19 NGOs at the hospital. Dr. Lassegue says these included M�decins Sans Fronti�rs, the Norwegian and Canadian Red Cross, Scientology Volunteers Ministry, Operation Blessing, Mission of Love, the Duke University Team, the Mount Sinai University Team, and the Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras, a Spanish firefighters' group.
Haitian doctors acknowledge the contributions of the foreign doctors. Nevertheless, there was friction. "They came, they helped, it was good, but they didn't work with Haitian doctors," says Max Harry Kernisant, a surgeon at the hospital. He says that while there is no doubt that the foreign doctors did excellent work, he sometimes felt their attitude betrayed condescension and arrogance, and that they were partly driven to build up their numbers on medical operations to drum up contributions.
Things would be worse if it weren't for NGOs, says Samuel Worthington, president of InterAction, an umbrella group that represents major U.S. aid groups, including IMC. "What NGOs can say is that there are a lot more kids in school, a lot less mothers dying, thanks to their efforts," says Mr. Worthington, who expects his members to be in Haiti for 50 years. "As long are there are social problems, there will be NGOs working here."
Between them, IMC and Partners in Health managed the emergency room and staffed the hospital's first intensive-care unit. There was talk about making the ICU a permanent fixture, through ongoing cooperation with foreign medical schools.
But by March, the only NGOs with doctors on hand were IMC and Partners in Health. Most doctors worked in two-week rotations, and the staff was stretched thin as it tried to man the emergency room and the ICU at the same time. By the end of July, both groups had pulled their doctors out. Partners in Health says it decided to return to its focus on health in rural areas. [/size]
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By July, Dr Paul Farmer, walked out of General Hospital with $89 million USD's in liquid assets sitting in his Goldman Sachs account.
He simply packed up and left Haitians to die on the floor.
And not a word of condemnation from the Miami Herald.
It takes a truly "evil" person to turn their backs on the sick and dying when the funds were there to help.
It takes "evil" to break your promotional campaign promises which generated the cash for you in the first-place.
I congratulate President Marelly for having walked out on DR Paul Farmer while in NY.
I shake my head in disgust with Ms Charles and her appeasement attitude with PIH and Farmer.
[ Edited: 26 October 2011 05:55 PM by gunner ]
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