Source & Credit: This is Derbyshire | March 15, 2010
By Staff
EVERY morning at 8am, 80-year-old Dr Abdul Momin Khalifa opens the doors of the small medical clinic in a Haitian side street.
Already, between 20 and 30 people will be queuing outside, some needing treatment for injuries sustained in the devastating earthquake, others suffering the effects of post-traumatic stress.
"A lot of the cases we see are related to the earthquake," said Dr Khalifa who, despite his age, works seven days a week in the clinic. He has done so since three days after the earthquake on January 12.
"People can't sleep, have headaches, stomach aches, diarrhoea, and often this is because of the trauma."
Dr Khalifa is one of scores of volunteers who work for international charity Humanity First. It runs the clinic in Port-au-Prince which sees more than 80 patients every day.
The charity's volunteers have also been distributing Aquaboxes on behalf of the Derbyshire charity, which is run by the Rotary Club of Wirksworth, and is currently being supported by the Derby Telegraph.
The medical camp is the first place in Haiti to start using the latest Aquabox, the AquaFilter Community – one of only 15 in use across the world.
It is designed to replace the current Aquaboxes, which use carbon filters and chlorine tablets to provide safe drinking water.
The new system uses micropore technology filters to eliminate diseases such as typhoid from dirty water – and is designed to last longer and be even more efficient than the current Aquaboxes.
The AquaFilter Community was set up in the Humanity First Medical camp last week and is now providing clean water for doctors and volunteers.
Dr Khalifa said: "The number one priority in these situations is clean drinking water.
"Most of the diseases are caused by infections due to the water. Things such as gastroenteritis which can cause dehydration can be dangerous, especially among children. From a medical point of view, clean water is vital. This AquaFilter is a great asset."
The AquaFilter now sits on a wall in the camp. It attracted great interest and excitement from the Haitians as it was being set up.
The dirty water is placed in the blue Aquabox and, once the tap is operated, the water is pumped through the filter and out through a pipe. It is then clean and safe to drink.
Local volunteers and doctors were among the first people to try the water and were surprised at how simple the AquaFilter was.
Owphinie Marcelis, working as a translator and guide for Humanity First in exchange for meals, said: "This is good, very easy to use."
The AquaFilter, paid for with the help of Derby Telegraph readers, will now be used to provide clean water for the doctors and nurses who treat the stream of patients.
The clinic is in two basement rooms in a building that survived the quake which killed more than 200,000 and left a million more homeless. It consists of two camp beds and a few chairs where doctors, including Dr Rafael Pineda, a Mexican who lives in Canada, speak to patients.
Dr Pineda is spending a month working in Haiti after his church, Grand View Baptist in Vancouver, asked him if he would go out if it raised the money his air fare.
He said: "Two of the women at my church said they wanted to help the people of Haiti but did not know how. They said they would like me to go out there and work as a doctor and would I go?
"I had not even thought about it but said yes. It is an honour to help these people."
While we were at the clinic, patients came in to have stitches removed after they suffered injuries from falling buildings.
The doctors were also treating fevers, infections and one case of suspected malaria in a young boy.
"There is no medical care in Haiti," said Dr Pineda. "If the clinic was not here, many of these people would not get any treatment as they cannot afford to pay to go to hospital."
During my time in Haiti, Humanity First secured a lease on a new building which it hopes to move the clinic to shortly.
"It is bigger and has more space for doctors, greater privacy and a waiting area. It is very good, a very nice building," said Dr Pineda, who has agreed to stay on in Haiti for another fortnight.
"I have already picked out my chair," he said.
To donate to Aquabox, call us on Derby 253053 or e-mail cduffin@derbytelegraph.co.uk, send money to NatWest, account number 53575113, sort code 60-14-15, call 01629 825178, or post a donation to Aquabox, PO Box 5398, Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 4ZP.
Read the original post here: Aquaboxes are ensuring Dr Khalifa's patients have vital clean water on tap
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