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Benoit Leduc, head of operations in Haiti for Doctors Without Borders, said five of the group's supply planes have been diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic rather than being allowed to land inPort-au-Prince. He told reporters Monday that coordination is "not existing, or not efficient at this stage."
"It's an issue," Leduc said. "I don't really know who is in charge."
Leduc said the diversion of flights to the Dominican Republic has set back plans to erect a portable field hospital by 48 hours -- a critical time when many of injured survivors of the earthquake are now suffering from life-threatening infections.
Meanwhile, in the northern town of Milot, medical volunteer Traynor said the Sacre Coeur Hospital has more than 200 beds and a nearby soccer field where helicopters can land but few patients. He said the U.S. Coast Guard has flown some injured people up from Port-au-Prince, "one or two or three or four people at a time."
"We are within 30 minutes by air. We could take 200 to 300 people. We can do amputations. We have a fully operational trauma center, and no patients," he said.
Carol Fipp, another volunteer at Sacre Coeur, said eight patients have made it to Milot from Port-au-Prince on their own, taking about seven hours to complete the 75-mile drive. The hospital had fewer than 30 patients Monday afternoon.
"Shout it from the mountaintops: We need helicopters," she said.
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