A DOCTORS of the World Cyprus team is to fly to India on Sunday to help with the humanitarian disaster resulting from last Friday’s devastating earthquake.
The quake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, hit the western state of Gujarat. The Red Cross says more than 50,000 people are feared dead in the rubble.
Dr. Eleni Theocharous, the leader of NGOs Cyprus branch and a child surgeon at the Makarios Hospital in Nicosia, yesterday told the Cyprus Mail: “Myself and two other experienced surgeons — I can’t say who yet — plus two nurses are planning to fly to India to operate on people who have been injured. We have not raised adequate money for the trip yet, but we believe we will have the amount we need in a couple of days.”
The team is raising money through donations.
“We will be performing operations on a 24-hour basis for at least 10 days. It is quite exhausting but definitely worth it. I cannot begin to tell you what it means to save a life,” said Theocharous, who has led several such missions in the past.
The surgeon admitted there were risks in providing services at the scene of the devastating earthquake.
“There is always a chance of getting an infection or a disease from the large number of dead bodies in the area, particularly the ones buried under the rubble. Aftershocks are a possible threat too. But as I said, it is worth taking the risk. We would have to write a book to describe the experiences we go through in lifesaving operations,” she added.
People can contribute to the team’s fund at the following bank accounts: Bank of Cyprus 00114-010-16785 and Popular Bank 015-21-008-116.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
