Philippine President sends off 21-member medical team to Haiti

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the Philippine medical team bound for quake- shattered Haiti will fulfill the Philippines' commitment to help other nations who are in need.

"We would like to thank our health team that is going to Haiti to help those affected by the strong earthquake," Arroyo said Monday, shortly after the medical team made their courtesy call to Malacanang, the Presidential palace.

"We know the feeling of victims of calamities because we also received a lot of help when typhoons Ketsana and Parma struck us. So it is our duty to help in whatever way we can, and that is through the expertise of our doctors and nurses," she added.

Dr. Emmanuel Bueno, who heads the 21-member medical team, said their group includes three surgeons, two orthopedics, two anesthesiologists, five nurses, three epidemiologists, two engineers and several public health and psychosocial nurses.

The same team has also volunteered in relief efforts in Myanmar when it was hit by a Tropical Cyclone Nargis in 2008, and in the aftermath of a landslide in Guinsaugon, Leyte in 2006.

The medical team will leave Monday night for San Francisco. They would take a connecting flight to Miami and then to Haiti via the Dominican Republic.

Philippine Airlines has sponsored the round trip airfare while Fedex has agreed to bring their medical equipment to Haiti free of charge.

Source: Xinhua