Center for the treatment of cholera opens in Haiti

Center for the treatment of cholera opens in Haiti
Puerto Príncipe, Haiti , 06/21/2011

The Servicio Social de Iglesias Dominicanas (SSID) opened the Center for the Treatment of Cholera in the community of Boom Repos, in the Haitian capital, having invested over US$250,000 (more than RD$9 million) in international cooperation from Korea and Canada.

Mota said that a Korean doctor is the head of the Cholera Center, who offers her services on a voluntary basis,

Lorenzo Mota King, executive director of the SSID, provided this information and said that the health center, specializing in the treatment of cholera patients in Haiti, has an observation and diagnosis ward, two inpatient hospitalization wards with capacity for 18 beds each, and a recovery ward, as reported by the Public Relations office of the SSID.

Mota said that a Korean doctor is the head of the Cholera Center, who offers her services on a voluntary basis, and there is also a doctor, nine nurses, five general services workers, and two health promoters, among others.

The SSID executive director explained that the international organizations that have helped make this project a reality are Diakonia Korean, of South Korea, and the Global Assistance Partners, of Canada, and that local support from the Organization of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has also been received.

He further explained that Diakonia Korean provided $170,000 and that the remaining funds were received from other local and international organizations.

During the opening of the health center, Mota King expressed gratitude for the cooperation received from Diakonia Korean, through Reverend Kim Jong Saeng, its secretary general, and Rev. Simon Lee Dong Yeol, general secretary of Global Assistance Partners, Canada.
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The purpose of establishing a health center for people affected by the bacterium that causes cholera, which has left so many dead people in its path, begins with a hospital built in waterproof tents and equipped with an immunization system in order to restore the health of thousands of Haitians affected by the disease.

“I congratulate the authorities of the Ministry of Health of the Dominican Republic for the great efforts they make every day with a view to halting the progress of cholera in the country,” he said.

The temporary center was built in the town of Boom Repos, near which more than 10,000 families live in tents, without any permanent assistance either from the State or from any private organization.

In the long term the goal is to leave a permanent health center to provide medical care in various medical specialties and to provide benefits directly to the families most in need within the Haitian community.

Mota King said that faced with the growth of the epidemic, it has become necessary in the Dominican Republic to “strengthen the epidemiological surveillance to halt the progress of this disease, which has also taken root in our country.”

“I congratulate the authorities of the Ministry of Health of the Dominican Republic for the great efforts they make every day with a view to halting the progress of cholera in the country,” he said.

Likewise, the religious leader advised the Dominican population to take the necessary measures of hygiene to prevent the spread of cholera.


This is how one of the rooms in the Center for the Treatment of Cholera, which is now running in Repos Boom, a community of Port au Prince, Haiti, looks.


The director of the Center for the Treatment of Cholera in Haiti, shows Lorenzo Mota King, executive director of the SSID, one of the manuals in Creole, which seeks to guide the population to prevent the spread of cholera.


In Boom Repos, Haiti, representatives from SSID, Diakonia Korean, and Global Assistance Partners, behind one of the health centers they sponsor.


Simon Lee Dong Yeol, general secretary of Global Assistance Partners, Canada, greets Lorenzo Mota King, executive director of the SSID.