China's Peace Ark hospital ship. JEAN CURRAN/AFP
Five Filipinos wounded at the height of typhoon Yolanda were the first to be treated aboard the Peace Ark Hospital Ship of China, which carried 106 medical professionals and 35 tons of medical supplies and arrived at Leyte Gulf around 5: 30 p.m. Sunday, the Chinese embassy here said.
The Peace Ark is the first 10,000- ton-class hospital ship in the world. The ship is equipped with 217 types and 2406 units of advanced medical systems including CT scan room, digital X-ray photographic studio, blood bank, oxygen generation station, compressed air system, pharmacy, etc.
It is equipped with 300 ward beds of various types, including 20 ICU ward beds, 109 ward beds for serious injury, 67 burn ward beds, 94 regular ward beds, and 10 beds of quarantine ward. There is also tele-medicine diagnose system, and three lifts with special specifications for transferring the wounded on the board.
After the ship’s arrival, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing, officers of Armed Forces of the Philippines, and local government officials then met and talked about how to carry out their treatment work.
The ship’s medical team of more than 50 doctors and nurses set up medical tents in Abuyog, Leyte, and as of 11 a.m. Sunday, has received 75 patients. This team has brought six tons of medical supplies with them.
The crew of China's hospital ship immediately got to work on the patients brought via ferry to the ship, anchored 10 miles from shore.
One of the patients, Flora Anadi, 44, was operated on after she suffered a fractured knee.
Another patient, Michael Martillo, 19, was treated for appendicitis.
Martillo initially went to Metro Manila to seek treatment but could not immediately be admitted there.
On Sunday, Chinese Ambassador Ma had said the hospital ship is too big to be anchored at any port, so it had to be anchored 10 miles away. Ma said the vessel has about 100 doctors to treat various medical conditions.
Chinese Red Cross, too
Two medical teams of more than 30 members from Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) joined the Philippine Red Cross and set up their camp at Tacloban City and ready to receive patients. Some of them will help search remains of local victims.
These two teams also brought enough supplies and they are expected to work there for at least two weeks.
A cargo of P37.8 million worth of supplies, including 2,000 tents, 2,000 sleeping bags, medicine and medical devices donated by RCSC has arrived at Cebu on November 21 and been turned over to their Philippine counterpart.
The P73 million worth of aid that the Chinese government pledged, which is composed of 10,000 blankets and 2,600 tents with each holds a capacity of 6 to 10 people, has been delivered to the Philippine side on November 19.
Chinese NGO donations
China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a well-known NGO named after the late Chinese honorary president, is busy preparing 200 mobile houses (P22.4 million worth) to donate to Leyte, East Samar, and Bohol.
The Chinese companies based in the Philippines have been mobilizing and organizing their staff including local ones to extend relief helps to the victims. The Association of Chinese Companies in the Philippines are also taking part in these efforts. They have donated P7.5 million to buy three payloaders much-needed for clean-up of the disaster areas.
The embassy said Chinese telecom giant Huawei Co. has been working on day and night in restoring the lifeline of communication in typhoon-affected areas. After typhoon Yolanda caused massive breakdown to its operation network, the company immediately assessed the losses, set up team of experts, and sent more than a dozen engineers to Tacloban with much-needed facilities. “With their hard work, Huawei successfully provided helped bring the telecommunication networks of PLDT, Smart, and Globe in the disaster areas back to normal, thus ensured the normal operation of communications networks in the disaster-hit areas,” it said.
China National Grid Co., the technical partner of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), has donated $100,000 to disaster area, and also contributed in restoring the power system of the typhoon-hit areas. It is now sending technical expert teams to the Philippines to join NGCP's post-disaster rebuilding efforts and work out a faster restoration of the power grids in the disaster areas.
The Yinyi Inc., a mining company based in Eastern Samar, which the typhoon severely devastated, also offered help. It granted its storage of food, water and other supplies to the survivors, and used all its equipment such as payloaders to clear roads, and donated its diesel stockpile to support the relief work. The company has raised P250,000 worth of cash, food, medicine and clothes, and will donate to GMA Kapuso funds and ABS-CBN funds.
Golfer Liang Wen-chong, the former Asian Tour No. 1, donated half of his first-place purse of US$135,000 (or US$67,500 or close to P3 million) to the victims of typhoon Yolanda after winning the Resorts World Manila Masters.
“I am very sorry about the typhoon that happened last week. I’ve decided to donate 50 percent of my winnings this week to Red Cross as a form of respect and gesture to those affected by typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda),” Liang said.
The Chinese embassy said it has been working around to clock to facilitate all the relief efforts. Moreover, it also joined the government's efforts in donating P1.2 million worth of emergency supplies, including radios, emergency lights and flashlights to Leyte and Samar directly. The diplomats in the embassy organized a donation for the Filipino staff who are from the typhoon-hit areas.
China also hit by Yolanda
“China suffered from the same super typhoon as well, which affected four million people and has caused huge losses and some casualties. The Chinese people are empathetic with the hardships the Philippine people are facing,” the embassy said in a statement.
After typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi extended their condolences respectively to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Foreign Minister Albert Del Rosario. The Chinese government and its Red Cross Society delivered $200,000 emergency remittance assistance to the Philippine.
The relevant Chinese authorities and Chinese embassy are following closely the relief operations and will render further assistance to the needs of the Philippine people, the statement said.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/75514/chinas-peace-ark-hospital-ship-arrives-at-leyte-gulf
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