Members of Delaware medical relief team return from Nepal

WILMINGTON, Del. (WPVI) -- Members of a Delaware medical team are back home after helping in Nepal.

The country is dealing with massive earthquakes and aftershocks that devastated the country. The most recent was on Saturday.

The initial quake last month killed more than 8,200 people and injured more than 17,000.

Last week, a second major earthquake struck, 17 days after the first, killing 117 people and injuring 2,800.

The Delaware medical relief team arrived back in the U.S. Tuesday morning.

They were in Nepal for ten days treating people and delivering medical supplies.

They say the need is great and will stay that way for some time.

"The people of Nepal still need a lot of help," said team member Amy Pollock.

An advance team of three went ahead of the others in the group to solidify connections.

Then Team B flew out a week and a half ago. They returned to Philadelphia International Airport Tuesday, but not before passing the baton to a third team that's already on the ground.

And yet these volunteer teams have seen more than 1,000 patients, set up remote clinics and worked out of multiple hospitals.

They arrived with suitcases full of supplies and a team of medical professionals.

This team survived the second massive earthquake to hit Nepal last Tuesday.

Doctor Ashish Parikh, a cardiologist, was doing an angioplasty at the time.

"That was pretty scary," he said.

He saw a patient waking with chest tubes in his hands. Some were being wheeled from the 6-story hospital on gurneys.

Another man was carrying his mother, who had heart problems, on his back.

Dr. Parikh has made a commitment to return to help train doctors there so they can better help their patients.

"Another resident told me, 'We are very smart, hardworking people. Hold our hands. We'll fly in the sky.' And that touched my heart," said Dr. Parikh.

LINK: www.delawaremedicalreliefteam.org