Haiti Earthquake, Six Months Later: Where Has All the Money Gone?
July 9, 2010— -- Six months ago, after the catastrophic 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, doctors were so desperate for medicine and supplies, some were forced to use vodka to sterilize equipment.
"We have no instruments, plaster of paris," one doctor told us in the days following the earthquake.
Doctors performed surgeries with few supplies and dwindling medicine. ABC News was there with one surgeon as he performed an emergency c-section in a makeshift operating room, under a plastic tarp, while the mother was hemorrhaging. There was no blood to give her.
Today, the tarp where the doctor saved both mother and child is now an empty garage. Across the street is a brand new portable operating room. The surgeons with Doctors Without Borders call it their "holy room."
"These are our sterile supplies," the lead surgeon says as he points to the equipment they so desperately needed.
$165.9 Million For Medical Supplies
Since the relief efforts began, ABC News estimates Americans have donated $1.138 billion dollars to Haiti. Nearly 14 percent of that money, $165.9 million, has gone to medical supplies.
During out trip back six months later, we discovered surgeons now fixing what doctors had to do under primitve conditions the first time around in the days following the catastrophe.
Haitian amputees who lost their limbs have returned for help, trying to fight major infections. This time, doctors are better equipped to help them.
Children, the smallest victims in the earthquake, now have a new pediatric hospital that Doctors Without Borders opened just four weeks ago.
