The WHO Philippines, with support from the people of Japan, has provided life -saving medical equipment to the Paediatric Infectious Disease and Tropical Medicine Department of the San Lazaro Hospital.
The equipment included two paediatric ventilators, two vein scanner viewing systems, five nebulizers, five suction machines and two pulse oximeters.
“These donations can really help us a lot,” says Dr Edna Abellera-Miranda, Chairman of the Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Department of San Lazaro Hospital. “For example, one ventilator can serve a lot of children and that already makes a big difference.”
Following Typhoon Yolanda, there was a real concern there would be a measles outbreak in the affected regions. The DOH, WHO and UNICEF worked hard to vaccinate over 1 million children. However, a measles outbreak did occur in Manila and during that time San Lazaro provided treatment to hundreds of seriously ill children who had to be admitted. Measles can cause serious respiratory problems and ventilators, nebulizers and intravenous medicines save lives. WHO provided medical supplies to San Lazaro to deal with the outbreak and subsequently offered to provide additional state-of-the-art equipment to help the DOH to manage future outbreaks and seasonal increases in pneumonia.
“I remember struggling to find the vein on a tiny baby when I first worked as a doctor,” says Dr Julie Lyn Hall, WHO Country Representative in the Philippines. “The new equipment, including the vein scanners, can really help doctors and nurses with their work. We’re so pleased to be able to provide logistics support to further enhance the hospital’s services and to support their vital work to save the lives of even the smallest babies.”
