Frontline sharing of Dr. Erwin GUILLERGAN in the Philippines flooding relief work

Dr. Erwin GUILLERGAN, a Filipino doctor sent out from MSF Hong Kong, is working with emergency team to provide medical assistance in flooding areas in Philippines.

Hi everyone,

It has been a week since we started the exploratory mission and assessment here in Laguna Bay. Initially it was difficult for us to travel from Manila to the different towns but we have moved base(s) to be close to the population we want to serve. I have introduced the team to different contact persons, particularly the municipal health officers/doctors and the provincial health team. Luckily, the main person in charge of the medical teams of evacuation center in Manila is my classmate from medical school, so I got some inside information on what's happening everywhere.

The conditions of the people we saw were really bad. In Santa Cruz, several evacuation centres were still flooded (waist deep, and in some areas,neck deep). There was a centre where more than 30 families share 2 toilets and majority of the children sleep on the cemented floors without mats. In Paete, one of the poor towns, there are families living on top of the market house.

Last Monday, we did a mobile clinic in Siniloan for about 300 people coming from 3 evacuation centres with focus on the children, women and the elderly. This area is still flooded and the road to the district hospital is neck-deep in water, even a relief truck can not pass. The most common conditions were skin infections (lots of fungal infections), respiratory illnesses, diarrhoea and fever.

Yesterday, we went back to San Pedro and found that there were cases of diarrhoea in their biggest evacuation centre (San Pedro Central Elementary School). 5 people were sent to the Regional Institute of Tropical Medicine because of severe diarrhoea and dehydration. One was positive for Vibrio Cholera Ogawa strain and was sent to the National Kidney Institute in Manila for dialysis because of renal shutdown.

In the centre, they have made a mini-hospital and admitted 22 cases of watery diarrhoea. We talked to the municipal health officer and asked permission to do basic cholera prevention (hand-washing system, wearing of gloves, security, etc) and assist in the provision of IV fluids and medicines to the people affected in the evacuation center. I did lectures with the nurses and student nurses on cholera and helped the doctor on duty diagnose some conditions in the centre.

Today, we will go back to the cholera/acute watery diarrhea centre in San Pedro and in the afternoon we will help in the packing of non-food items to be distributed to families in bad affected areas.

I’ll keep you all updated again - if the internet connection work! The plan is for us to do surveillance and medical monitoring, for the next weeks. We will continue going around Laguna Bay to see different needs and situations.

That's all!

Erwin

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