Peace Ark Hospital Ship Begins Medical Treatment Upon Arrival in Yolanda-hit Areas
2013-11-25 16:03

Updated November 25, 2013

1. The Peace Ark Hospital Ship has began to give medical aid immediately after its arrival at Leyte Gulf on Nov.24, one day ahead of schedule. They have transferred 11 patients with serious illness to the hospital ship as soon as they step on the land of the disaster area. Given its huge tonnage, the ship is moored at an anchorage in Leyte Gulf about 10 nautical miles off Tacloban City. In order to optimize use of the hospital ship, the Peace Ark will set up a field hospital in the disaster area to receive patients and transfer them to the ship for further treatment. They are also ready to treat patients transferred by local public hospitals and other foreign medical teams. At the same time, they will send epidemic prevention teams to the disaster areas to carry out anti-epidemic work.

 

The Peace Ark was warmly welcomed by AFP officers and local government officials, who emphasized that the arrival of the well-equipped hospital ship is very timely. It will definitely play an important role in the Philippines' relief efforts, as there is only one public hospital in Leyte City with a severe lack of operating rooms and Intensive Care Units, while some injured are sent to other cities, even as far as Manila, for treatment.

 

"China's dispatch of two Red Cross teams, a government emergency rescue team and the Peace Ark hospital ship to the Philippines marks a significant chapter in China's history of post-disaster assistance overseas," Ambassador Ma Keqing said. "This will be the first medical ship to arrive in the Philippines and we are looking forward to it playing a bigger role in boosting and providing emergency medical care," said Ambassador Ma, who was in Leyte to coordinate with the Philippine counterparts in facilitating China's medical aid to the local victims on November 24.

On board The Peace Ark are more than 100 doctors and 200-odd supporting personnel, and carrying 35 tons of medical supplies. Peace Ark is the first 10,000-ton-class hospital ship in the world. The medical ship is equipped with 217 types and 2406 units of advanced medical systems including CT scan room, digital X-ray photographic studio, blood bank, oxygen generation station, compressed air system, pharmacy, etc. Peace Ark is equipped with 300 ward beds of various types, including 20 ICU ward beds, 109 ward beds for serious injury, 67 burn ward beds, 94 regular ward beds, 10 beds of quarantine ward. There is also tele-medicine diagnostic system, and three lifts with special specifications for transferring the wounded onboard.

2. The medical team of more than 50 doctors and nurses, sent out by the Chinese government has set up tents, and has received 311 patients in Abuyog City of Leyte Province by November 25. This team has brought 6 tons of medical supplies with them.

3. Two medical teams of more than 30 members from Red Cross Society of China (RCSC)  has treat 335 local people. They also organized a search and rescue team and found one remain of a local. These two teams also brought enough supplies and are expected to work there for at least 2 weeks.

▲ A cargo of P37.8 million worth of supplies, including 2000 tents, 2000 sleeping bags, medicine and medical devices donated by RCSC has arrived at Cebu on Nov. 21 and been turned over to their Philippine counterpart.

▲ The 73 million Pesos worth of aids that the Chinese government pledged, which are composed of 10,000 blankets and 2,600 tents with each holds a capacity of 6-10 people, has delivered to the Philippine side on Nov. 19. (Please see the attached picture)

China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a well-known NGO named after the late Chinese Honorary President, is busy preparing 200 mobile houses(P22.4 million worth) to donate to Leyte, East Samar, and Bohol.

▲ The Chinese companies based in the Philippines have been mobilizing and organizing their staff including local ones to extend relief helps to the victims. The Association of Chinese Companies in the Philippines are also taking part in this efforts. They have donated P7.5 million to buy 3 payloaders much-needed for clean-up of the disaster areas.

Huawei Co., an international frontrunner of telecom industry, has been working on day and night in restoring the lifeline of communication in typhoon-affected areas. After Typhoon Yolanda caused massive breakdown to its operation network, the company immediately assessed the losses, set up team of experts, and sent more than a dozen engineers to Tacloban with much-needed facilities. With their hard work, Huawei successfully provided helped bring the telecommunication networks of PLDT, SMART, and GLOBE in the disaster areas back to normal, thus ensured the normal operation of communications networks in the disaster-hit areas.

China National Grid Co., the technical partner of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines(NGCP) has donated $100,000 to disaster area. It also contributes a lot in restoring the power system of the Typhoon-hit areas. It is now sending technical expert teams to the Philippines, to join NGCP's post-disaster rebuilding efforts and work out a faster restoration of the power grids in the disaster areas.

The Yinyi INC., a mining company based in Eastern Samar, where the typhoon severely devastated, also offered help. It generously granted its storage of food, water and other supplies to the victims, and used all its equipments such as payloaders to clear roads, and donated its diesel stockpile to support the relief work. The company has raised P250,000 worth of cash, food, medicine and clothes, and will donate to GMA Kapuso funds and ABS-CBN funds.

▲ Mr. Liang Wen-chong, the former Asian Tour No. 1 donated half of his first-place purse of US$135,000 - US$67,500 or close to P3 million - to the victims of typhoon Yolanda after winning the Resorts World Manila Masters."I am very sorry about the typhoon that happened last week. I've decided to donate 50 percent of my winnings this week to Red Cross as a form of respect and gesture to those affected by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)," Mr. Liang Said.

▲ The Chinese Embassy has been working around to clock to facilitate all the relief efforts. Moreover, it also joined the government's efforts in donating P1.2 million worth of emergency supplies, including radios, emergency lights and flashlights to Leyte and Samar directly. The diplomats in the Embassy organized a donation for the Filipino staff who are from the Typhoon hit areas.

China suffered from the same Super Typhoon as well, which affected 4 million people and has caused huge losses and some casualties. The Chinese people are empathetic with the hardships the Philippine people are facing. After Typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi extended their condolences respectively to Philippine President Aquino and Foreign Minister Del Rosario. The Chinese government and its Red Cross Society delivered $200,000 emergency remittance assistance to the Philippine. The relevant Chinese authorities and Chinese Embassy are following closely the relief operations and will render further assistance to the needs of the Philippine people.

(Photo Source China News Service)

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