CMAT Team 3 in Sukkur. L-R: Huma Ali, Rita Jacques, Robin Welsford, Zohair Kaderbhai, Mark Wheeler, Samina Ali, Tricia Mackay, Michael Parker, Beverly Parker.

Friday October 22, 2010– CMAT Primary Health Care Team 3 arrived home from Pakistan on Friday, October 22. CMAT volunteers have treated more than 500 patients per week in the field clinic in collaboration with local partner V Need U.   Major causes of illness and death include communicable diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, acute respiratory illness and vaccine preventable diseases (measles, hepatitis and neonatal tetanus).

Read more →

CMAT Primary Health Care Team 2 awaiting departure at Toronto’s Pearson Airport: L-R Zarena Pash, RN; Denise Reimer, PCP; Jennifer Pritchard, Medical Resident; Drew Dorssers, PCP; Mark Crandall, RN. (absent: Lorren Locke and Kari Locke, RN).

September 24, 2010 – Canadian Medical Assistance Teams’ (CMAT) second Primary Health Care, which arrived in Karachi a few days ago, is now working in Pakistan’s flooded region of Sukkur, in interior Sindh province.  In collaboration with Pakistani Federal and Provincial authorities, and other NGO partners on the ground, the team identified an area in Sukkur, Sindh Province, approximately a 500km north of Karachi. The immediate vicinity is home to 5-6 internally displace persons (IDP) camps, with population of several thousand.

Read more →

CMAT Executive Director Valerie Rzepka (far right) met up with CMAT Primary Health Care Team 1, who departed Toronto’s Pearson Airport for Karachi, Pakistan. L-R: Anne Aspler, Resident; Tania Correa, Nurse Practitioner; Matthew Douma, Registered Nurse; Sylvia Walters, Paramedic and Team Leader Rashad Chin, Resident.

September 10, 2010 – Canadian Medical Assistance Teams’ (CMAT) Assessment team, which arrived in Karachi a few days ago, confirmed yesterday the need for Primary Health Care teams to be deployed to Pakistan’s flooded regions. CMAT Team 1 left Toronto’s Pearson Airport late Friday afternoon, and will take with them nearly one half tonne of medical supplies and water purification equipment.

Read more →

CMAT Assessment Team member Dr. Omar Elahi discusses transportation and logistics with local authorities in Sindh province, southern Pakistan.

September 8, 2010 – The CMAT/IMAT Rapid Assessment Team departed Toronto on Sunday September 5th, and have spent the last 24 hours conducting a needs assessment in the Thatta region of Southern Sindh province.

Martin Metz, Team Leader reports that there are many people who have left their homes and are sleeping in the open at the side of the road.

The health care needs in the area in and around Thatta appear to be well managed by the local authorities and military.

Read more →

Displaced children play on a makeshift surface, after being displaced due to flood waters.

TORONTO, September 3, 2010 – Canadian Medical Assistance Teams (CMAT) is deploying its initial disaster assessment team to Pakistan, scheduled to leave Sunday afternoon from Toronto’s Pearson Airport. Over 20 million people in the flood-affected country have been displaced, and hundreds of thousands are now at risk of acquiring infectious diseases. CMAT’s team assessment will survey the health needs of displaced flood victims in order to prepare for the deployment of CMAT’s inflatable field hospital and rotations of medical teams.

Read more →