- Severance Hospital Part of KMNDR Relief Efforts in Tacloban

Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines in November, left more than 6,000 dead and 28,000 injured, with nearly 1,800 people still unaccounted for. The vast majority of the fatalities and injuries occurred in and around Tacloban City, located in the northeast corner of Leyte Island.  While power has been restored, and work on road reconstruction has begun, the residents of the region are in dire need of adequate medical services and facilities, as the medical system was devastated by the typhoon.  Although a few hospitals are running thanks to support from foreign NGOs, these groups are also facing financial difficulties, which prevent them from sufficiently meeting the medical needs of local residents.
To help support disaster relief efforts in the Tacloban region, the KMNDR, which includes participation from Yonsei Severance Hospital, has been providing various medical services through a mobile clinic run in cooperation with Leyte Provincial Hospital. Because the hospital’s CT and MRI machines were destroyed in the flooding, the KMNDR has been operating digital X-ray and medical ultrasound machines, allowing local doctors to more effectively treat patients.  And with the support of the Philippine government, additional mobile clinics have been supplying medicine and emergency medical services to remote villages that would otherwise be without them.
These relief efforts were made possible due to a new cooperative model established by the KMNDR and the Philippine government.  In the past, disaster relief has been criticized due to a lack of uniform regulations and poor coordination between aid agencies and the affected nation.  To avoid these problems, the Philippine government and the KMNDR have cooperated in making sure that the delivery of medical aid is systematic and that customized medical services are provided in the areas they are most needed. Local residents have been recruited to provide first-hand reports on the local situation to the KMNDR, facilitating a medical support plan that has greatly improved the efficacy of the medical workers, while reducing costs associated with waste and redundancy.  And, early on, in cases where a KMNDR team could not be sent to a village due to safety concerns, the Philippine Ministry of Public Security took the lead; once the area was deemed safe, the aid workers would move in and set up operations. 
Because the KMNDR has been able to provide such efficient and effective medical support—thanks, in large part, to the emphasis upon communication and cooperation with the Philippine government—Yonsei officials expect this model to be emulated in future disaster relief efforts.  The KMNDR is supported by the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH) and the Chung Mong-Koo Foundation.