Direct Relief Equips Doctors Providing Care After Hurricane Otis Lara Cooper - Direct Relief
go to original November 1, 2023

Medical Impact volunteers prepare emergency tools for 12 doctors that arrived on Oct. 30, 2023, to provide basic medical services in Acapulco this week. Direct Relief provided the group with a $25,000 emergency operating grant as well as essential medications and field medic packs to support services. (Direct Relief)

After last week’s rapidly intensifying Category 5 storm inundated Mexico’s west coast, many areas still lack power and communication in the Acapulco area, where historic Hurricane Otis made landfall.

The storm’s death toll has risen to 45 people, and 47 people are still missing, according to Evelyn Salgado, Guerrero state governor. She added that about 274,000 homes throughout the region had been destroyed from the storm’s high winds and flood surges. Clean water shortages and a dwindling food supply are also impacting the region.

More than 100 hospitals and clinics have been damaged, and medical care is scarce.

Direct Relief issued $200,000 in financial support last week, including to groups responding in Guerrero with emergency health services.

Medical Impact, an organization that Direct Relief supported last week with a $25,000 emergency operating grant, deployed 12 doctors to Acapulco to provide medical care in the area. Field medic packs for triage care outside clinic walls and an emergency health kit, which contains medical essentials commonly requested after disasters, are outfitting the medical providers during their trip.

The week before Hurricane Otis made landfall, Direct Relief had shipped requested medical essentials, including medications for chronic disease management such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma, as well as first aid items for wound care and other medical needs.

Direct Relief is also coordinating with the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, or IMSS, one of the largest providers of healthcare in the country, and has shared a list of available medications.

Direct Relief will continue to respond to Hurricane Otis throughout the coming days.

See the original at Direct Relief

Related: UNICEF Delivers Relief After Hurricane Otis Slams Mexico (UNICEF)

  Learn about Direct Relief in Mexico