Call for medical volunteers – Pakistan Floods
A young boy and his family is displaced as a result of the flooding in Pakistan.
August 31, 2010 – CMAT is seeking interested and available medical professionals who would like to be considered for possible deployment as a part of CMAT Medical Team volunteers in Pakistan.
As floodwaters move through Sindh Province, additional flooding has occurred in low-lying areas, and the incidence of disease is swiftly increasing. Canadian Medical Assistance Teams (CMAT) will be deploying its initial disaster assessment team to Sindh Province, Pakistan this coming weekend from Toronto. The organization is also making an emergency appeal for additional donations to help provide medical aid to the people in Pakistan after the worst flooding in living memory has displaced over 20 million to date.
Together with our American partner, IMAT, CMAT’s initial assessment team will conduct a needs assessment around the city of Sukkur, and other areas of Sindh province, to ascertain what medical aid is needed. The assessment includes evaluating the destroyed infrastructure and surveying the health needs of the flood affected victims in order to prepare for the deployment of CMAT’s inflatable field hospital.
A father carries his children to safety.
Canadian Medical Assistance Teams (CMAT) is a Canadian-based grassroots disaster relief organization made up of medical professionals and non-medical volunteers who selflessly give their time and resources to assist and provide relief aid to the victims of natural and man-made disasters around the world. CMAT teams have responded to numerous crisis situations including the Southeast Asian Tsunami and earthquake ravaged Kashmir, Pakistan and Haiti. CMAT has accumulated a database of over one thousand skilled health care professionals from across Canada. All volunteers cover their own travel costs.
Several Internally Displaced Persons’ Camps in the region hold more then 50,000 people. Many of these camps have had no medical care to date, and there are estimates of over 15,000 pregnant woman needing prenatal, maternal and newborn care. Teams of medical volunteers to staff the CMAT Field Clinic are starting to be assembled, and will be placed on standby awaiting guidance from the assessment team.
Flood levels reached record heights in areas of Sindh province.
We have need for the following professionals:
- GP, Family and/or Emergency Physicians
- Nurse Practitioners
- Registered Nurses
- Paramedics
- Midwives
- Pharmacists/ pharmacy technologists
- Camp logistics (non-medical)
Volunteer Requirements:
Volunteers are required to pay for their own return airfare from their home airport via Toronto to Pakistan, and are encouraged to fundraise for donations which can be made in the volunteer’s name through the CMAT website. Donors will receive a charitable tax receipt for their donation, and volunteers will be reimbursed for donations collected up to the cost of their airfare within 90 days of their departure. Other out-of-country expenses will be covered by CMAT.
External Links:
International Medical Assistance Team
For new volunteers, please complete a volunteer profile here:
