Doctor: Baby Landina's condition 'deteriorating'
Updated on 09 February 2010
Doctors in Haiti warn that baby Landina Seignon's serious condition is deteriorating as she is forced to wait for evacuation approval.
Three-month-old Landina Seignon is still awaiting urgent evacuation as red tape has delayed her approval to leave the country.
The baby suffered serious injuries during the 7.0 magnitude earthquake on 12 January - her doctors say she will die if she is not transferred to medical facilities in the US or UK.
Landina was being treated for burns to her head when the earthquake struck three weeks ago. She was pulled from the rubble and now needs an urgent operation to remove dead bone from her head. Her right arm also had to be amputated.
British surgeon David Nott who is treating Landina at a Medicines sans Frontiers (MSF) hospital in Haiti has told Channel 4 News that her condition will deteriorate if she is not approved for evacuation soon.
Dr Nott and MSF have been working to organise a transfer for the three-year-old but face seeking official approval. As Landina has no known relatives alive the decision for guardianship now sits with Haitian government.
The health ministry has said a surgeon is due to visit the baby to assess her situation but with many governmental buildings destroyed in the quake Haiti's infrastructure remains in ruins.
There are also fears that the arrest of 10 Americas accused of kidnapping "orphans" has affected the medical evacuation of injured children.
Reports suggest that private medical evacuations have largely stopped as aid workers are worried about being accused of unlawfully transporting children from the country.
Following the quake the largest paediatric field hospital in Haiti was airlifting 15 injured children a day to the US. Since the arrests it has only been able to evacuate three children on private flights to American hospitals, the New York Times reported.
