Singapore's Mercy Relief in Philippines to help Typhoon Ketsana victims

SINGAPORE: A six-member team from Singapore's Mercy Relief is in the Philippines to help Typhoon Ketsana victims. The team has been there since last Friday and is scheduled to be back on Tuesday.

Ketsana struck the Philippines slightly more than a week ago and now the threat of disease looms large for the thousands of Manila residents made homeless by the typhoon.

Though no major disease outbreaks has been reported so far, doctors and aid volunteers said there is a serious threat of disease due to filthy water and untreated sewage.

The impoverished village of Napindan sits on a large plain directly across from the gleaming towers of the Makati business district. But the two worlds could not be further apart.

While areas in Makati now show no signs of the devastation brought upon the city more than a week ago, for residents of Napindan, an urban slum, daily life still involves wading through flood water that's almost knee-high.

Their homes, too, remain submerged under water. And every minute that these people spend in the waterlogged areas it increases the risk of them catching waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea and leptospirosis borned by a parasite common in dirty water in urban areas.

But for now, it's the more common cases which are emerging, as volunteer doctor, Elen Solis, elaborated: "Well, after a week, we expect something like wound infections, skin infections, fungal bacterial infections, and of course upper respiratory tract infections, colds and coughs, fever, body malaise. These are very common complaints of patients. And of course because of the weather, you have asthma cases there. There are a few chronic illnesses which have emerged due to stress. These are hyperintensive patients."

There are up to 5,000 families in Napindan and its surrounding regions, but the team of doctors operating there can treat only about 1,000 families.

During a visit to the makeshift clinic there, scores of people were seen queuing outside and the 15 doctors operating there were overwhelmed.

And for those whom medical help has yet to reach, the threat of serious disease looms ever larger.

Dr Solis said: "If it's water and we wait in the water, we expect leptospirosis and that is of course dangerous for us. It's coming from the urine of rats. And if the urine of rats goes into the water and you wade in that water and you have open wounds, it goes inside. These things will affect your kidneys. Dengue, we expect dengue too. Typhoid fever, because of the water. These are the things we need to address."

Despite the tough conditions and the race against time before more serious conditions set in, Dr Solis said her team of doctors are grateful for the opportunity to help fellow Filipinos. She said: "We believe we are blessed and this is an opportunity to help and we have to share. This is God's given talent to us. This is a noble profession we should share."

Singapore's Mercy Relief has offered to help the team operating at Napindan village, and it is currently awaiting more information before it sends in any medical supplies or medical personnel.

- 938LIVE/ir

Channel NewsAsia