China's hospital ship restores hope in C Philippines

To the thousands of hapless victims of super typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) in central Philippines, particularly the injured, the arrival of the Peace Ark, China's state-of-the-art hospital ship, was providential and most-welcomed.

It has restored their hope and confidence that they would be able to live a normal life again after the tragedy.

Since Monday, the day after it dropped anchor off the coast of Tacloban City, the ship has already treated scores of patients, some of them with major injuries and other ailments.

Tacloban City, capital of the island-province of Leyte in central Philippines, was the worst hit by the killer typhoon and storm surges that accompanied it.

Also badly hit was the nearby province of Eastern Samar.

After typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines on Nov. 8, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi extended their condolences respectively to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Foreign Minister Albert Del Rosario.

The Peace Ark, one of China's biggest and most modern floating hospitals, has joined a fleet of international humanitarian missions that are now assisting survivors of the worst typhoon that hit the Philippines in its entire history.

"This is an added boost because the Peace Ark is even bigger than our regional hospital in terms of capacity with very experienced doctors and medical staff from China," said Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, a member of the Philippine Congress representing the province of Leyte.

Aside from Representative Romualdez, local officials led by Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez also welcomed the officers and medical staff of the Peace Ark along with Chinese Ambassador to Manila Ma Keping.

The 300-bed Peace Ark, the first 10,000-ton-class hospital ship in the world, arrived at the Leyte Gulf before dusk on Sunday. It has some 100 doctors and hospital capabilities to treat and provide other assistance to victims of the super typhoon.

The ship is equipped with advanced medical systems including CT scan room, digital X-ray photographic studio, blood bank, oxygen generation station, compressed air system and pharmacy, among others.

The hospital is headed by Rear Admiral Shen Hao, the mission commander, and Capt. Guan Bolin, chief of the Navy Health Department of the People's Liberation Army.

China has joined the militaries of 15 other countries working on the ground to help in the relief and rehabilitation efforts of a clearly overwhelmed Philippine government.

The foreign militaries taking part in the massive humanitarian mission are from Australia, the United States, Japan, Canada, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Sweden, Vietnam, South Korea, New Zealand, Spain, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

"We are very fortunate that we have many friends and allies that contributed their military assets to help us in the rescue and relief operations. Without them, we would have some difficulty. You know the limitations of our capabilities," Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista told reporters in Manila on Monday.

While treating patients at the hospital ship, Chinese doctors have also assisted local hospitals that have been destroyed by the typhoon.

A Chinese medical team from the hospital ship has already treated patients at the privately owned Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Hospital in Tacloban City.

According to the Chinese embassy here, five wounded Filipinos were among the first to be treated in the hospital ship. The five patients, who were confined at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City, were airlifted to the ship. One patient, Flora Anadi, 44, was operated on after she suffered a fractured knee. Another patient, Michael Martillo, 19, was treated for appendicitis. On the succeeding days, scores of other typhoon survivors have been attended to by the hospital medical staff.

Aside from the hospital ship, two medical teams of more than 30 members from the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) have joined the Philippine National Red Cross and set up camp in Tacloban City where they received patients.

China's government emergency medical team also set up tents in the town of Abuyog in Leyte where they received 75 patients.

A cargo of 37.8 million peso (0.9 million U.S. dollars) worth of supplies, including 2,000 tents, 2,000 sleeping bags, medicine and medical devices donated by the RCSC also arrived in Cebu City on Nov. 21 and has been turned over to their Philippine counterpart.

The 73 million peso (1.7 million U.S. dollars) worth of aid that the Chinese government pledged, which is composed of 10,000 blankets and 2,600 tents with each capable of housing six to 10 people, was delivered to the Philippine side on Nov. 19.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the super typhoon has risen to 5, 560 as of Thursday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), a government agency tasked to coordinate all rescue and relief efforts in the country during calamities.

The NDRRMC said the number of injured persons in Yolanda- battered areas in eastern Visayas is still at 26,136. The number of missing is pegged at 1,757 while the number of affected persons has ballooned to 10.8 million.