Better coordination needed in worldwide disaster response after Haiti failures, medics say

Failures to coordinate relief work in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake led to many patients having limbs amputated without their consent, or without proper follow-up treatment, according to a medic who spent time working in the country.

The concerns, among other worries about coordinating worldwide relief efforts, were raised last week as medical experts from 65 countries gathered at the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine in Wong Chuk Hang for the third World Health Organisation (WHO) EMTs Global Meeting.

“Many patients didn’t know who did their surgery. They were not identified. There was no consent. There was no follow-up,” said Tony Redmond, deputy director of the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute of the University of Manchester (HCRI).

Following the Haiti earthquake calamity, many countries deployed their emergency medical teams (EMTs) to Haiti to provide relief but the lack of coordination prevented the overall relief operation from being effective and, more importantly, transparent.

Redmond said the failure of coordination was on full display during the Haiti disaster.