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

As of 13 July 2020, AMDA’s relief team has been offering judo therapy (bone setting) at Dai-ichi Junior High School, an evacuation shelter in disaster-hit Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture. At the same time, part of the team visited the adjacent Sagaramura village to support local health workers in response to an inquiry made by Hitoyoshi Health Bureau chief.

1. Dai-ichi Junior High School (Hitoyoshi City)
AMDA’s judo therapy has been well appreciated by the evacuees. A total of nine people received the treatment on the 13th. The bone setting seemed to have relieved their physical fatigue, so much so that some fell asleep or revealed their sufferings from the disaster during the treatment.

Some of the evacuees have already received the therapeutic massage several times as the service has entered its third day. The reputation has been spreading through word of mouth which helped increase the therapy’s overall recognition.
 
*The treatment has been given under stringent precautionary measures against COVID-19. Currently, a therapist and the patient are required to disinfect their hands three times in total before entering the treatment room and after the end of the treatment. Face masks should be worn at all times, and a bed must be disinfected after every session, with the change of bed sheet and towel being compulsory.

2. Supporting community health workers in Sagaramura
On the 12th, AMDA personnel (one doctor and one coordinator) visited the Sagaramura village next to Hitoyoshi City in response to an inquiry from the city's health bureau chief.  

At the village center, local health workers and municipal staff told AMDA personnel that although they needed to visit 200 households in the locality to assess the residents’ health conditions, the downpours from the previous day had hampered them from doing so as some places had been repeatedly inundated. 

Accordingly, AMDA personnel joined their home-visits the next day and managed to cover 23 households in the end. Of all 18 families with which they were able to talk, none had a problem using gas, water or electricity; neither did they have difficulty going to clinics for obtaining medicine for chronic ailments. As a whole, the residents were in good health.
 

★COVID-19 precautionary measures for AMDA staff in Hitoyoshi City 
After hearing the news in which one of aid workers from Kagawa Prefecture had been infected with the novel coronavirus, AMDA immediately tracked the activity records of its own staff. As a result, there was no record of AMDA personnel in close contact with the person in question. On the 14th, the team suspended its all activities until it received the official approval from authorities for the work resumption. Now that everything is cleared, the team is expected to resume its work in Hitoyoshi and Sagaramura on the 15th.

Since day-one, AMDA has kept its thorough disinfection practices as mentioned earlier. For all those who have been dispatched, they are tasked to take temperatures and monitor their health conditions before and during the relief as well as for 14 days after returning from the work site. 

They are required to take care of themselves at all times, and if any physical symptoms are found, they must report immediately to AMDA to seek guidance from medical specialists. In addition, AMDA will conduct necessary tests if there had been any potential risks during the relief mission or in accordance with personnel’s conditions whether they are symptomatic or asymptomatic.

(Further updates will follow.)