ANOTHER team of health experts will be deployed soon to quake-ravaged Myanmar to provide emergency medical services, including to Filipinos who remain in that country, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said yesterday.
Two Filipinos were confirmed last week to have died from the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on March 28. Two other Filipinos remain missing in Mandalay City.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said the Philippine Inter-Agency Humanitarian Contingent (PIAHC), composed of 89 individuals from several government agencies including the Department of Health (DOH), had been expected to be back in Manila on Sunday night.
The OCD also said the PIAHC successfully completed its mission in Myanmar where about 3,550 people died and almost 5,000 others were injured.
Herbosa said the second DOH team to be deployed to Myanmar will be composed of experts from the Health Emergency Management Bureau, National Center for Mental Health, and East Avenue Medical Center. It will provide “emergency medical services, mental health and psychosocial support.”
He said the group is part of the Rapid Response Team that is also composed of representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
He also said the first DOH team served over 1,000 patients from April 2 to April 12.
The PIAHC left Manila on April 1 as part of One ASEAN, One Response — an ASEAN declaration calling for a united response to disasters inside and outside the region.
The team is composed of personnel from the OCD, DOH, Armed Forces, Metropolitan Development Authority, Bureau of Fire Protection, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Energy Development Corporation and Apex Mining Co Inc.
