SINGAPORE: The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) search and rescue team in Padang, Indonesia, has been asked to stop their operations in the quake-hit city.
This comes after authorities there announced the end of rescue operations on Monday afternoon at 3pm.
SCDF said the contingent is preparing for departure in a few days but is ready to help should it be needed.
The Singapore Armed Forces medical team and humanitarian organisation, Mercy Relief, are still in Sumatra supporting local efforts.
The SAF medical team has set up a makeshift clinic in Pariaman, which has so far treated 99 accident and emergency cases and performed 14 operations.
Pariaman is one of the districts worst-hit by the quake and the 54-man team from the Singapore Armed Forces is pitching in to help survivors.
Team members have set up a temporary clinic and operating room beside the town's public hospital and set up facilities similar to a hospital's Accident and Emergency department.
The team has been sharing its medical equipment such as the x-ray machine with the local medical staff.
As patient load is expected to increase, the clinic has since been expanded to handle mass casualties.
Head of the surgical team of the SAF medical team, LTC(Dr) Colin Teo, said: “We are actually seeing an increase in numbers and many of them are cases with very badly infected wounds. And with the opening up of roads to the disaster-stricken areas, we actually see cases coming in groups, coming in waves whenever roads have opened up and whenever transport is made available to those casualties that have been there for the last four days.”
Dr Teo added that the SAF medical team has been providing supplies to volunteers travelling to outlying areas, where access remains difficult. -CNA/vm
Sources: Channel NewsAsia
Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:45 am