RP medical team to leave for Haiti Monday night

After clearing travel requirements, a 21-member Philippine medical team will head for Haiti to assist victims of a powerful earthquake that ravaged it last January 12. Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral said on Monday that the team would take a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight to San Francisco and take connecting flights to Haiti, even as a DOH official said the team will stay there for 18 days. "Mamayang gabi ang alis nila, sasakyan nila PAL flight papuntang San Francisco, tapos may connecting flight hanggang makarating sila sa Haiti (They will take a PAL flight for San Francisco Monday night. They will then take connecting flights until they arrive in Haiti)," Cabral said in an interview on dzXL radio. She said the team includes three trauma surgeons, two orthopedic surgeons, two anasthesiologists, one pediatrician, one internist, one psychologist, five nurses, and three epidemiologists, and sanitary engineers. The 21-member team had been formed as early as January 16, shortly after the quake that ravaged Haiti and killed at least three Filipino peacekeepers and another United Nations staff worker. Two more Filipinos remain missing: overseas workers Grace Fabian and Geraldine Lalican. Health Emergency Management Staff (HEMS) head Dr. Carmencita Banatin said the team would be in Haiti for 18 days. At the time of the killer quake, 462 recorded Filipinos were in Haiti — 290 civilians and 172 military and police peacekeepers. Medical team leader Cabral earlier said she expects the 21-member team to stay in Haiti for "two to three weeks" or even longer, depending on how long they were needed there. Heading the team is Dr. Emmanuel Bueno, head of the emergency room of the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City. An article posted on the Department of Health website said PAL and the PAL Foundation provided free plane tickets for the whole humanitarian team for the Manila-San Francisco leg of their route. "From there, the team will take a connecting flight to Miami, and then to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. PAL and PALF also shouldered the tickets for the team’s trip home from San Francisco back to the Philippines," the DOH said. FedEx Group will transport the team’s cargo and medical supplies for free, while the Department of National Defense led by Lt. Col. Lopez Dagoy will take care of handling the cargo when it arrives in Haiti. 71 OFWs Earlier in the day, military information chief Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said an initial batch of 71 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based in Haiti were to take a long commercial flight to the Philippines on Tuesday. At the same time, Brawner said the remains of three Filipino peacekeepers who died in the quake will be sent home Tuesday or Wednesday. [See: 71 OFWs to head home from Haiti Tuesday; 3 peacekeepers’ bodies due this week] - RSJ, GMANews.TV