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Haiti's Landina Seignon - a timeline

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 12 February 2010

Baby Landina Seignon was in hospital in Port-au-Prince when the Haiti earthquake struck on 12 January. One month later she arrives in the UK for treatment at Great Ormond Street.

Baby Landina Seignon

Tuesday January 12
Landina Seignon is in the Trinity Hospital in Port-au-Prince awaiting treatment for to remove dead bone from her skull after a burn injury, when the hospital is destroyed by the earthquake.  Landina suffers further injuries, having to have her arm amputated. Her mother is missing in the quake.

Friday January 29
The Haitian government clamps down on removal of apparent orphans after ten US Baptist missionaries are accused of kidnapping 33 children and trying to take them out of the country. Channel 4 News later discovers that not all of the children involved are orphans.


Saturday February 6
British surgeon David Nott, working as a volunteer with MSF in Haiti, tells Channel 4 news that Landina will die unless she receives surgery which she can not get in Haiti. Because the bone is dead there is significant risk of brain infection unless she has the operation. His hospital, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, is arranging treatment for her, but Mr Nott's requests to move her out of the country have been turned down by the US military because she has no papers.


Sunday February 7
As news of Landina's plight travels around the world, offers pour in of help with  the treatment , or with transportation to get her out of Haiti.

As well as MSF and the charity Merlin, UNICEF is working to help clear the obstacles to treatment. The Haitian Ministry of Health becomes aware of Landina's situation, and says it will make an assessment of her condition. Great Ormond Street agrees to carry out the operation.


 

Simon Eccles, a specialist in paediatric craniofacial surgery with the charity Facing the World, who is preparing for her care here, tells Channel 4 News he thinks it will take high level government to government contacts to get Landina out. The Foreign Office tells us it is standing by to help.


Monday February 8
Doctors say that Landina's condition is deteriorating, but she can not leave until the necessary paperwork has been obtained.

UNICEF tells us that a neurosurgeon sent by the overstretched Haitian Ministry of Health is due to come today and assess her condition and fitness to travel, but the promised visit fails to materialise. All that remains of the health ministry building is a pile of rubble.


Tuesday February 9
With still no sign of the government neurosurgeon, Inigo Gilmore goes to see the Haitian Minister of Health, Alex Larsen. He signs a letter giving his department's permission for Landina to be evacuated for treatment, and asks Inigo to pass it on to MSF. He admits that the arrest of the missionaries has cast a cloud over efforts to assist real orphans in urgent need of medical attention.

 

Wednesday February 10
Landina is still unable to leave the country, as her emigration papers still need to be signed. 


Thursday February 11
As of 7pm UK time, Landina is being cared for in a car next to a heliport. A helicopter is standing by to take her to the Dominican Republic, from where she will fly to Britain. Later that evening, she is finally cleared to leave and the flight takes off.

 

Friday February 12
Landina arrives in the UK for treatment.

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