Nepal earthquake relief required “Another set of hands”: CNN medical correspondent responds to save the life of this girl
In the midst of the rubble of Nepal’s earthquake, a CNN news reporter, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, scrubbed in and performed brain surgery on an injured child.
“A wall had fallen on 15 year old Sandhya Chalise right outside her home in a remote area. When she reached the Katmandu Bir Hospital, blood had collected at the top of her brain and she needed urgent craniotomy.“
The local doctors turned to Dr. Sanjay Gupta as they were in desperate need for more resources. Thanks to the timely extra help, Ms. Chalise is now recovering well and has been reunited with her parents.
Dr Gupta, who works as a neurosurgeon at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta as well as CNN’s chief medical correspondent explains,
“They were literally in need of another set of hands because the demand was high and they were expecting more patients.”
He later reported the struggle Nepal’s medical facilities are facing to cope up with the situation. Government authorities are desperate for additional medical supplies.
In an another incident, an orthopaedic surgeon, Dipendra Pandey, conducted 36 critical operations since the quake with just one operating theatre. The plight of his recovering patients was such that they had to take shelter wherever possible outside.
The strongest earthquake to hit Nepal in 80 years has claimed over 4,300 lives and over 8,000 people have been injured. The numbers are still rising as international organizations reach remote areas. Nepal is still in need of more resources and more personnel.
