Last October, three sick and injured Palestinian minors arrived at different hospitals in Catalonia, out of the 19 children and 73 family members evacuated from Amman, Jordan.
Among the team from the Medical Aeroevacuation Unit (UMAER), in charge of this transfer, was a healthcare professional from Parc Taulí, Dr. Luís Renter, section head of the pediatric and neonatal air transport team.
Since 2021, Dr. Renter has been a reservist in this unit of the Air and Space Army, after learning about the experience of other professionals from Parc Taulí who participated, such as Dr. Rafa Betancourt, who also participated in the initial phases of preparation for this mission. “In conflicts there are always many sick and/or injured children and, as I am a pediatric intensivist, I thought I could offer my expertise to help in these humanitarian actions.”, explains Dr. Luís Renter.
This year, during his stay at UMAER, he coincided with this mission to carry out a second evacuation of sick and badly injured children from the Gaza Strip. “We prepared the device with the World Health Organization (WHO), the NGO Doctors Without Borders and the Ministry of Health to learn about the patient profile and the needs such as beds, immobilization, monitoring, etc. that each child could have during their transfer via two planes.”, details Dr. Renter.
These health operations are prepared with great rigor and professionalism, "we knew the clinical history of each patient. Days before the evacuation, to confirm the status of some patients, I asked to speak again with the healthcare professionals who were with them to check that all the tests were fine and their clinical situation was updated. To ensure that the transfer could be carried out with maximum safety for the children", he points out.
The children who were transferred were patients with traumatological, hemato-oncological, neurological, nephrological, gastrointestinal diseases and congenital heart diseases.
By Dr. Renter, “This mission is the example of why I decided to be a reservist. To help people, children, by contributing my health knowledge".
This operation was coordinated by the Ministry of Health with the collaboration of the Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation; Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, and Interior.
