Sri Lanka volunteer’s gripes dismissed as ‘unrealistic’
THE PRESIDENT of Doctors of the World in Cyprus has hit back at claims made by a doctor on its recent Sri Lanka mercy mission that the association had been unprofessional and disorganised in its Tsunami response.
Dr Yiannis Taliotis yesterday launched a stinging attack on Doctors of the World in Cyprus, saying too few doctors had been on the trip and that media interference had hampered their mission.
However, Eleni Theocharous, president of the Doctors of the World Cyprus, dismissed Taliotis’ claims, branding them simply “unrealistic”.
“Dr Taliotis’ claims are his own personal opinion and do not reflect the real image of the situation.”
She added Doctors of the World would hold a news conference today at which a report would be given on what was being done in Sri Lanka as well as future expeditions.
“We will also have the chance to respond to the accusations.”
Taliotis said yesterday: “The manner in which the mission was done in my opinion was wrong and unprofessional. First of all it cannot be right that I was stationed in Sri Lanka with just a nurse and six or seven people from the media. When I was stationed in Romania in 1989 and in Somalia years later, we were a team of about 10 medical staff and just one journalist and that was acceptable. There should have been more medical personnel with us and not so many people from the media.
“For example, I would have to get an area to help the injured at 7am and we would get delayed because the coach would be stopped so the journalists could get stories or the photographers could take pictures. Sometimes they would delay us for as much as 45 minutes to an hour and that in my opinion was totally unacceptable.
“We, the doctors, had a job to do there and that was to help the people suffering. It wasn’t right that we should have obstacles like that.”
Taliotis also claimed the organisation did not provided enough supplies.
“We also had the problem that the mission planning was very disorganised. They just decided to send us and that was it. The medical supplies I had with me were very inadequate. They should have had supplies stored away properly in the event of a team leaving in 48 hours instead of just grabbing what they can from the state warehouses at the last minute.
“I was alone with the nurse in a very hard hit area which needed more doctors and it was much later that they sent me two more doctors. Now I hear they are sending another four doctors. My question is why didn’t they send them before when we needed the help badly in the early days and are sending them now when things have toned down.”
Doctors of the World Vice President Maria Shakalis said yesterday no volunteer had the right to talk on behalf of Doctors of the World.
“Whatever anyone is saying is their own personal opinion and is not talking on behalf of the Doctors of the World. The Doctors of the World is the board of directors and no one else. We shall meet and decide what will be done with Dr Taliotis at our next general meeting in the near future.”
However, Dr Adamos Hadjipanayis, who was in Sri Lanka on the same mission with Dr Taliotis, said he had had no problem with sensationalism from any of the press.
“I can say on my behalf that I did not experience any problems with the media when I was out there. I didn’t have any problems with Doctors of the World while I was out there.”
