Humanitarian help in the face of migration crisis
As part of a new strategy of humanitarian medical assistance for Venezuelan patients agreed between the Governments of Argentina and Colombia, the team of Argentine volunteers, comprised of medical doctors and primary healthcare specialists -under the coordination of the White Helmets Commission of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs- is already treating Venezuelan migrants that left their country as a consequence of the serious political-institutional situation.
The strategy was launched in the month of April by President Mauricio Macri and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who agreed on a new strategy of humanitarian medical assistance for Venezuelan patients in Cúcuta and Maicao, with the metropolitan area of the capital of Norte de Santander as pilot territory.
Argentina's medical assistance will be channelled through Medical Response Units (URSA), made up of Argentine teams of volunteer healthcare experts, who will treat patients in a camp located in Cúcuta, Department of Norte de Santander, at the Simon Bolivar International Bridge Station, in order to help deal with the current humanitarian crisis at that border point.
With a daily demand of 200 patients, this team of experts -which arrived in the city of Cúcuta on Saturday 23 June- provides assistance in cases of general medicine and specialties such as pediatrics, gynaecology, cardiology, psychology and complementary services such as clinical analysis, diagnostic imaging, ultrasonography and medicine supply.
The URSA treats pregnant and nursing women, as well as children under the age of 17, and is contemplating the extension of medical assistance to other diseases such as HIV, hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases, always in a coordinated effort with the Colombian Ministry of Health (MSC), which provides mobile health clinics, a clinical analysis laboratory and other low to medium complexity diagnostic procedures.
The White Helmets' health centre for the provision of medical assistance will consist of a 50-square-meter structure and three 16-square-meter structures, each comprised of several consulting rooms, emergency and rehydration rooms, a nursery, a doctor's surgery and an administrative office.
Patient population, their pathologies and prescribed treatments will be recorded. For that purpose, template health records of the Colombian health authority will be used. The MSC will provide an additional vaccination centre to the Argentine team, and will inform the prevalence of patient and disease types with a view to tailoring the team to meet patient demand and setting up a drug stock geared to actual needs.
Press Release No. 274 /201
