Hospital patients lash out at visiting minister for poor handling of disaster
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Finland’s Minister for Social Services Liisa Hyssälä (Centre) faced sharp criticism at Helsinki’s Töölö Hospital on Sunday when she and a group of aides visited patients who had been airlifted from Thailand.
Hyssälä bore the brunt of sometimes quite harsh criticism of the actions of the government, civil servants, as well as those of aid organisations and tour operators.
"I ask you as a representative of the government, how it is possible that the Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that there were no Finns missing after the tidal waves? How is it possible that this kind of a lie was given out as the official truth? Naturally it has affected the speed with which the aid efforts and evacuations were started up", said Mika Järvinen, a patient with his arm in a cast.
"We are victims and we want to know who is responsible for the decisions, and what the basis was for the information that was given out."
A young woman who was at the bedside of her injured brother was in Finland when the tidal waves hit. "On December 26th at 11 o’clock I called (the tour operator) Finnmatkat, where they said that everything was OK in Khao Lak. When more information started to come out, I tried to call the Foreign Ministry. It took seven and a half hours before I could get through", she said.
Emotions among many patients and their family members were very intense.
"Two planes flew to Thailand empty. Why weren’t they loaded with rescue supplies and drinking water?" asked the wife of one patient.
Her husband angrily told Hyssälä about his experiences at a local hospital. "A Finnish rescue group visited and promised to get me out by the evening. Nobody came, and I was left lying there", the man said. His daughter, sitting next to his bed, continued:
"When Dad called the Finnish diplomatic mission, they told him to go to the hotel and get to the airport. Dad was in terrible shape. Ribs were broken."
"My brother in Finland reported that my mother and sister were missing. When the list was published, my brother saw his own name on the list", the daughter continued.
Hyssälä blamed the problems on bad communications. A couple of patients said that at least Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja (SDP) should resign.
Järvinen, who was rescued in Khao Lak, demanded to know why the Finn Rescue Force (FRF), which operates under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior, was not sent to Thailand.
"Such a force, comprising professional rescuers, would have been able to search for living victims. Now the search is for bodies", said Järvinen’s sister.
All patients praised the Töölö Hospital and its staff.
"The personnel on the ambulance flight saved my mother’s leg", said one woman with tears in her eyes.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 3.1.2005 - TODAY |
 Hospital patients lash out at visiting minister for poor handling of disaster |
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