- Title: HAITI: Haitian amputees face uncertain future
- Date: 1st February 2010
- Summary: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (JANUARY 31, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF GENERAL HOSPITAL U.S. SOLDIERS OUTSIDE HOSPITAL INJURED MAN WAITING FOR MEDICAL ATTENTION VARIOUS OF INJURED INSIDE CAMP MEDICAL WORKER RESTING HIS FACE YOUNG WOMAN WITH BOTH LEGS AMPUTATED SITTING WITH HER MOTHER (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) 22-YEAR-OLD DOUBLE AMPUTEE, MAGA, SAYING "The doctors give me medicine for pain if I need it. I get an IV every afternoon." PATIENT BEING MOVED MAN WITH AMPUTATED LEG (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) 70-YEAR-OLD MAN WITH AMPUTATED LEG, ROMILLIEW TOUSSAINT, SAYING "I was in my home, a wall and rocks fell, and one was cut off." VARIOUS OF MAN WITH AMPUTATED ARM BEING TREATED (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) HAITIAN DOCTOR, ODA MUKKUAKA, SAYING "We don't have hospitals, the white people will leave and only Haitians stay here. They need a lot of help, but there is no continuation. And I would like the continuation if possible." VARIOUS OF PATIENTS WITH AMPUTATED LIMBS
- Embargoed: 16th February 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Haiti
- Country: Haiti
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Health
- Reuters ID: LVA3KQWL2AKQUWEVZ5ROK268A1AS
- Story Text: Almost three weeks after the earthquake that devastated the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince many amputees remained at local hospitals receiving much needed medical care.
One young woman who lost both her legs still managed to smile on Sunday (January 31), grateful for the help she has received.
"The doctors give me medicine for pain if I need it. I get an IV every afternoon," said 22-year-old Maga whose legs were crushed when a wall fell on her.
Seventy-year-old Romilliew Toussant suffered a similar fate when the 7.0 earthquake caused his house to crumble.
"I was in my home, a wall and rocks fell, and one was cut off," he said from his hospital bed.
An estimated 2,000 people lost their limbs like Maga and Toussant or had to have them amputated after gangrenous infections.
Their care will burden the country's medical system for decades.
The quake hit late afternoon on Jan. 12 and wounds left untreated that long frequently develop fatal infections unless the limb is taken off.
The generation of amputees, many of them young, will need expensive care that was unavailable to most even before the quake hit the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.
But Port-au-Prince hospitals are stretched beyond their limit as well. They have set up tent facilities on their grounds, due both to damaged buildings and Haitians' fear of being inside if one of the many aftershocks is violent.
"We don't have hospitals, the white people will leave and only Haitians stay here. They need a lot of help, but there is no continuation. And I would like the continuation if possible," said local doctor, Oda Mukkuaka.
Port-au-Prince was a challenging place to live before the quake, now to navigate its uneven, hilly and often unpaved streets on one leg will make life even more difficult.
Doctors said the many children who have lost limbs will need a new prosthesis every two to three years as they grow as well as physical rehabilitation. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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