Haiti crisis could get worse in hospitals
Updated on 18 January 2010
Despite the millions of pounds being donated to help Haiti's earthquake survivors, hospitals are struggling to get hold of medical supplies. Sarah Smith reports.
An earthquake killing up to 200,000 people would have been bad enough anywhere but in Haiti, where children are malnourished and disease is already widespread, the situation on the ground could get even worse.
Channel 4 News correspondent Sarah Smith has been visiting hospitals in Port-au-Prince, some of which are now full, where Médecins Sans Frontières are helping treat the injured and dying.
Medical teams say they are already overwhelmed by the casualties and fear infection and disease could quickly take hold.
One of those being treated, Antoine Legayneou, is worried he will havenowhere to go once he is released from the makeshift hospital. He said: "My house is broken. I don't know when I'm leaving again."
Haitian government officials say the death toll from last Tuesday's magnitude 7 quake was likely to be between 100,000 and 200,000.
No-one has even begun to get a count of injuries, which include crushed or amputated limbs, compound fractures and lacerations.
Doctors fear children, the weak and elderly will die unnecessarily from disease that would be easily treated with water and rehydration salts under more normal conditions.
