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-- people in severe pain with festering wounds;
-- a young man, typical of others, with a traumatic crush injury; he was young and strong, but his leg was dead and had to come off;
-- gangrenous limbs removed to save lives;
-- after surgeries, patients can't go home; they have none and need care - to prevent infections, change dressings and control pain;
-- many amputees and the paralyzed need lifelong care, but from where, by whom, and the numbers are so great it's impossible to help everyone;
-- thousands of children have been orphaned;
-- shocked, traumatized people are everywhere;
-- the number of people needing surgery is overwhelming; teams work under makeshift conditions around the clock with inadequate supplies running out as well as enough fuel for refrigerating medicines; and
-- people are dying and will die without essential treatment, and for the seriously ill, survival depends on leaving Haiti for what's not available internally - but Washington is blocking Haitian citizens from leaving, even parents whose children are US citizens; they can go, not their parents.
Two million or more are homeless, living on streets or, if lucky, in tents. Partners in Health, (with 25 years experience providing healthcare to Haitians), estimates 20,000 are dying daily from lack of surgery and essential treatment. The human tragedy is incalculable. Tens of thousands of bodies get dumped in mass graves like garbage.
MSF's Dr. Greg Elder fears:
"The next health risk could include outbreaks of diarrhea, respiratory tract infections, and other diseases among hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in overcrowded camps with poor or nonexistent sanitation."
On January 20, even The New York Times reported that:
"....people (are) writhing in pain (in squatter camps around the capital), their injuries bound up by relatives but not yet seen by a doctor eight days after the quake struck. On top of that, the many bodies still in the wreckage increase the risk of diseases spreading, especially, experts say, if there is rain."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Port-au-Prince General Hospital is besieged by over 1,000 patients needing surgery. "....thousands of injured, some grievously, wait outside virtually any hospital or clinic, pleading for treatment."
BBC correspondents said aid arriving by sea is taken to the airport, "where it is piling up and not being distributed to those who need it." As a result, most Haitians are getting little or nothing. An estimated two hundred thousand or more have died. Many more will perish for lack of help.
