Mr. Speaker, my colleague is right. There is no excuse for allowing Haiti's cholera disaster to escalate. Aid workers have tried to bring the outbreak under control but the disease continues to rage, especially in rural areas. The United Nations last week said that the death and infection tolls could be twice as high as officially reported. David Schrumpf who leads the Médecins Sans Frontières outreach teams in the north reports, “We often see only the tip of the iceberg as we know there are people who are dying from cholera in the rural communities”.
A Canadian doctor down there operates a clinic that has been operating 24 hours a day since November 22 because nearby hospitals are unable to handle all the cholera patients in the area. She says:
We are trying to get some beds, because right now we have patients basically on benches.... We are just struggling to get by, really it's a day-to-day thing.
What recommendations might my colleague make to the government in order to try to address this issue in rural areas?