“La tragedia de Haití es la situación más fuerte que me ha tocado vivir”, afirma Alberto Lafuente, anestesista de la Clínica Universidad de Navarra y voluntario en Haití
"The tragedy in Haiti is the status strongest tragedy I have ever experienced," says Alberto Lafuente, an anesthesiologist at Clínica Universidad de Navarra and volunteer in Haiti.
The American disaster is the fifth international catastrophe, after those in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Indonesian tsunami, to which Dr. Lafuente has volunteered to respond.
Haiti is the fifth catastrophe to which Alberto Lafuente Jiménez, an anesthesiologist with the DYA, has volunteered his services financial aid . Clínica Universidad de Navarra and member of DYA. The previous ones were the war disaster in Afghanistan, as well as those caused by the earthquakes in Pakistan (October 2005), and the two in Indonesia (the tsunami of June 2006 and the earthquake of September 2009). Despite his experience, the status in Haiti has not ceased to impress him: "I can say that it has been the strongest thing I have seen in my life (...) It is really the most dantesque thing I have seen, although I think that the members of the contingent that we have come from Spain are handling it very well. With a lot of dignity", said Alberto Lafuente yesterday at dawn.
conference of exhausting 12-hour work , meals as a formality, the strong heat and the precariousness of the general status , makes the staff stationed in Haiti begin to feel the fatigue. However, at all times, Dr. Lafuente is positive sample and stresses that "it is worth the effort we are making for all these people. If we are not able to give a little of ourselves for the people of Haiti, who are suffering in this way, there is not much reason to have done a degree program like Medicine, or many other things".
Supplies, safety and pathologies
After five days in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, Alberto Lafuente comments that for the forces of financial aid humanitarian supplies of water, electricity and communications are solved, although for the population the supply is being scarce. status "Little by little we are trying to get the basic supplies to the entire population, although it is difficult, because this country has really become unstructured, in addition to the basic situation before the earthquake, which was one of absolute poverty," Lafuente describes.
However, the doctor wanted to convey a positive message and reassure the families of all the Spanish volunteers currently working in Haiti: "There are many of us here helping and we are very well and very encouraged. We are very happy with the work we are doing", he stressed. Regarding the safety of the volunteers, he assured that, "we do not feel the sensation of insecurity, since we have the obvious security measures in countries in a status like this, with the protection at all times of the UN forces".
The Spanish medical attendance , according to Lafuente, has been concentrated in one of the three hospitals that are still standing, out of the ten that existed before the earthquake. The anesthesiologist points out that the Spanish contingent was one of the first to arrive, only after the American contingent. In these five days, they have conditioned the interior of the hospital, where they have installed a operating room with the material means that they have transferred from Spain and where they have been operating since the first day of their arrival.
There, the most frequent pathologies they have to treat are "very often open and very infected traumatisms, in some cases even with worms, due to the advanced stage of putrefaction they present". In these cases, "what we are doing is amputating the affected limb, putting it on antibiotics and trying to prevent the infection from worsening and reaching sepsis," he points out. In addition, Dr. Lafuente highlights the care of cesarean sections at attendance , "since, due to the stress, and despite the status, babies are being born here".
The anesthesiologist of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra also appreciates the solidarity of the Spanish people with the Haitian people and emphasizes that the AECID (Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for the development), dependent on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the standard bearer of all the Spanish financial aid "is doing an unbeatable work . At the head we have Pablo Yuste who is here every day, encouraging, organizing and coordinating everything very quickly".
Full audio of the interview: