6 months after the earthquake and a revisit and now the facilities are there and not enough doctors and staff, running out of money. A new hospital is being built in Haiti from Partners of Boston, but will there be enough money to run it I guess is the question. Both private and public hospitals are closing and people are dying and you can see in the video the empty surgery rooms, tables and equipment there, but nobody to work there.
In reading comments on this I think many are asking the same question, did all the money donated get there and secondly has it been exhausted already? It could be either/and/or but something needs to be done. Once everyone had left there were very little resources to stand on it seems. Some we lucky and were operated on and had prosthetic legs, etc. but there’s still a lot more that needs to be done. BD
For a while, there was a venting of compassion. At General hospital, the largest public hospital in Haiti, there was at one point too many doctors and too many supplies. People saw the need, and they opened their pocket books and booked their flights. I was often asked, "what can I do to help?" I said "wait 6 months, because too many people will forget, yet the need will still be there." When I visited General hospital yesterday, there was hardly anything happening there. The operating tables that were donated looked desolate, and the rooms were empty. A handful of diligent Haitian nurses, who haven't been paid in months, were trying to do the best they could with hardly any resources.
The largest private hospital in the city, which serviced the small percentage of Haitians that could pay for their health care, has chains on the doors and is shut down for business. Six months later, the need is still here, and in many ways, things are worse than ever.
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