Association of Medical Doctors of ASIA, founded in 1984, Consultative Status with UN ECOSOC since 1995

AMDA has been conducting emergency relief in Nagano and Fukushima Prefectures that were severely affected by Typhoon Hagibis which struck Japan's east to northeast regions on the second weekend of October. AMDA's current activities are as follows:

Nagano:
On the 14th, AMDA team comprising doctors and nurses collaborated with Nagano City’s public health nurses to conduct needs assessments in 16 evacuation shelters in Nagano City. The findings were later shared in a meeting held at the Nagano City Health Bureau in the afternoon.

As a result, it was decided that AMDA would be in charge of night-time health consultation services at shelters. Not only did it fulfill the lack of medical manpower on the ground, it also helped aid workers to closely monitor the health conditions of evacuees.

From that night, AMDA started offering the night-time consultation in two locations, namely, Toyono-Nishi Elementary School and Minami-Nagano Sports Park. The elementary school has been the biggest evacuation shelter in the area in which more than 300 people have been staying. AMDA sent a pair of nurse and doctor to be stationed during the night time. Likewise, one doctor was allocated at the sports park to look after around 30 evacuees.

On the 15th, AMDA's counterpart (Suwachuo Hospital) sent additional personnel to join AMDA's ground team. Having the extra staff (one doctor, two nurses and one coordinator) enabled the health consultation to be carried out 24 hours a day.

Fukushima:
A joint team of AMDA and its *partner-municipalities arrived in Soma City, Fukushima on the 14th. From the following day, the team started working in Sports Arena Soma where 58 people have been seeking shelter. While closely monitoring the health conditions of evacuees, on the 15th, the team (which includes a physiotherapist) talked to about 20 people to grasp their situations and the extent of the damage they suffered.

*Two cities in Okayama Prefecture, Soja and Akaiwa, are AMDA's partner-municipalities in the realm of disaster relief.

 

(Kindly stay tuned for more updates.)