Back to the mission..
discussion with the WHO team
And at about 1230pm, it poured. Heavy rain ala Malaysia! People ran away for cover as they were not allowed by our sentry to enter the OPD camp. Habis banjir! Yup..we were seeing patients with water rising slowly! Mr Guna saw this and took his boys to settle it by creating diverting drains. It was in the rain that they did that.. Kudos Mr Guna! SInce people fled, I decided that we should close the clinic for a while for lunch. I could see all team members were drained instateneously during that rush hour. I dont think we had proper breakfast before we start work that day. We joined in the queue! Haha.. Dal Bhat at its best :)
The first day in Sankhu was memorable. We had a huge task which was to upstart run our clinic; which will be the backbone of our field hospital. Mind you, this is the first time in Mercy Malaysia's history we will be setting up the full capacity of ERU's fienld hospital. However, the 3 big guns, Dr Heng (mission leader), Yati and Pak Hapis will not be on the ground. All of them were going off to Kathmandu; having to settle a lot of coordination and logistic issues. We were left to survive the day. So there we were, Guna, me, Matron Anita & Angeline to main the fort.I was thankful that my brother together with Boiy and Harith made their way to our place at midnight. Their role was vital in the success running of the first day in action.
The first task was to erect our Utilies tents. These will be the core of our field hospital. Mr Guna was in his element; gathering the local volunteers who in a way had no other thing to do then to help us. They were a good dedicated lot. A number of them is still with us, helping us till date. Mr Guna's task is vital as he needs to ensure everything running, generator that runs the electricity and also water supply. Clean water was a big issue in the village as all the basic amenities were not functioning. May i remind you about my toilet visits.. haha
Within a short fraction of time, the inital 2 tents were up! Kudos Mr Guna! Quickly we were in there starting to arrange the necessary for the clinic arrangement. We were lucky that we had the presence of 2 local doctors wh were there. One, as she was too affected by the quake and the other from NSET. Aliff was setting up his pharmacy side and the rest completing the set up. Initially, the clinic was supposed to be up after lunch but at 11am, We had people queing up already! This was because, it was near to lunch time where the community there would cook for the whole village to eat. It was a mere 10m from where we were! ! I had no choice but to start the ball rolling eventhough the team was not yet ready! How could i turn away a small baby!
our first patient 7 months old baby
Security was an issue as people keep barging in to see whats going on. I was lucky Meng was there to man the gate. It was chaotic but the experience was interesting. We have practiced this during ERU simulation and it is different handling it in reality. We were blessed with the presence of few local lads who had helped to translate as well as to maintain order.
the line for food
the busy team
It was in the chaotic moment of patients that the WHO team from Kathmandu came to visit us. They were the inspectors of relief and expressed their gratitude and upmost commendation for Mercy Malaysia's effort. Mr Guna was experienced enough to source clean water from them. It was help at its best. We had another visitor too, the rep from the Singaporean army who looked impressed with our set up. He thought he was there and to see our facility erected significantly, priceless. :)
And at about 1230pm, it poured. Heavy rain ala Malaysia! People ran away for cover as they were not allowed by our sentry to enter the OPD camp. Habis banjir! Yup..we were seeing patients with water rising slowly! Mr Guna saw this and took his boys to settle it by creating diverting drains. It was in the rain that they did that.. Kudos Mr Guna! SInce people fled, I decided that we should close the clinic for a while for lunch. I could see all team members were drained instateneously during that rush hour. I dont think we had proper breakfast before we start work that day. We joined in the queue! Haha.. Dal Bhat at its best :)
banjir!
caught in action haha
It was a chaotic but certainly satisfactory day. We ran the clinic in the afternoon till quite late as it was difficult to turn away the patients who came to see us. Earthquake related matters were the main cases we saw that day. It was my first time handling it, especially as CMO bidan terjun for the first time on Ground Zero's first day. The locals were certainly a helpful lot and friendship created was memorable. At the end of the day, I was proud to see our facility erected, it was just a small fraction of the full set up but i was very proud. Being part of this.. Insha Allah.
the set up
Ground zero team (Pak Hapis tak muat haha)
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