IDF doctor in Japan says rescue team needed, appreciated

After a 14-hour flight, 7-hour drive, Dr. Ofer Merin says the medical mission was able to set up a much-needed field hospital in northern Japan.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
IDF in Japan 311 (photo credit: IDF Spokesman)
IDF in Japan 311
(photo credit: IDF Spokesman)
Dr. Ofer Merin, deputy director of Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, is in Japan with colleagues on an IDF medical mission to help victims of the tsunami and earthquake that devastated much of the country last month.
After a 14-hour flight and seven-hour drive, Merin said the mission was able to set up a much-needed field hospital in northern Japan.
Merin said he traveled to a small village, called Minemisannko, which looks as if it had been struck by an “atomic bomb.” Half the 17,000 residents died in the tsunami, he said. Even the mayor was injured and pleaded for help, which he said the team provided.
The IDF medical team brought the first ultrasound on site to examine pregnant women.
The Shaare Zedek doctor said the victims are very grateful for the medical help being provided.
Merin, who was with the IDF’s rescue team in Haiti, said the current mission is very different, with a much different culture. He added that each member of his team is examined for radiation exposure twice daily, and that none has been discovered.