22 January 2010
Health Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral reported today that the Philippine humanitarian team bound for Haiti to render medical assistance in the earthquake-stricken country will leave on Monday, January 25, 2010.
“We are very pleased that so many people helped us in this worthy project to reach out and help those in need,” said Cabral, who highlighted the assistance of Philippine Airlines (PAL) and the Philippine Airlines Foundation (PALF), FedEx and the Department of National Defense (DND).
The health chief disclosed that PAL and PALF provided free plane tickets for the whole humanitarian team for the Manila-San Francisco leg of their route. From there, the team will take a connecting flight to Miami, and then to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. PAL and PALF also shouldered the tickets for the team’s trip home from San Francisco back to the Philippines.
The FedEx Group, on the other hand, will be transporting the team’s cargo and medical supplies for free, while the DND, led by Lt. Col. Lopez Dagoy, will take care of handling the cargo when it arrives in Haiti.
The Philippine humanitarian team is composed of general and orthopedic surgeons, internists, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses, epidemiologists, psychiatrists and sanitary engineers from DOH hospitals and facilities, as well as local government units. The team leader is Dr. Emmanuel Bueno, Chief of the Emergency Department and Health Emergency Management Service (HEMS) Coordinator at East Avenue Medical Center. According to HEMS Director Dr. Carmencita Banatin, the team will be in Haiti for 18 days.
“In any disaster, the world can always count on the compassion and assistance of the Filipinos,” Cabral concluded
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