AMERICA/HAITI - Doctors say there is little hope for seriously wounded children

Port-au-Prince (Agenzia Fides) – Eugenio Ajroldi of Robbiate, in charge of the Communications Office of the Order of Malta, has told Agenzia Fides of the sad situation of children in Haiti who were injured by the earthquake last week. "Yesterday we were able to successfully operate a child of ten years who was not seriously wounded. But for the most seriously injured children, there is little hope," says one of three doctors of Malteser International, Dr. Klaus Runggaldier, who arrived on Sunday in the Haitian capital, where the Relief Corps of the Order of Malta has joined the international rescue effort.
The three doctors of Malteser International have worked tirelessly in the St. Francis de Sales Hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince. Through the partner organization COTEDO, of the Dominican Republic, Malteser International started distributing food and medicines in five camps and emergency clinics in the area of Port-au-Prince.
The person in charge of the Order of Malta in Rome told Agenzia Fides that the hospital of the Order of Malta "Sacre Coeur" in the north of the country, has reached the limits of its capacity: the more seriously injured are being transported to the hospital by helicopter. Due to lack of medical supplies, Order of Malta doctors have been forced to confirm the tragic reality described in recent days by the international rescue teams: surgeons were forced to amputate arms and legs in almost every case, even in cases of merely a fractured limb.
In Haiti, the Order of Malta has 10 doctors. This country holds the unenviable record for the highest rate of poverty and infant and maternal mortality. The American Associations of the Order of Malta support the CRUDEM Foundation and its most significant achievement: the Hospital "Sacre Coeur" of Milot and the adjoining nutritional center, which saves about 4,000 little lives each year. In 2007, there were more than 56,000 medical visits, 4,000 hospitalizations, and over 72,000 laboratory tests. The births numbered at over 1,300. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 20/01/2010)