New York City (CNN)  -- Four years ago, the devastating Hurricane Katrina affected millions in the United States. The initial medical response was ill-equipped, understaffed, poorly coordinated and delayed. Criticism was fierce.



The response to Haiti has been the same. The point no one seems to remember is this: Medical response to these situations cannot be delayed. Immediate access to emergency equipment is also crucial.



Within 24 hours of the earthquake, Dr. David Helfet put together a 13-member team of surgeons, anesthesiologists and operating room nurses, with a massive amount of orthopedic operating room equipment, ready to be flown directly to Port-au-Prince on a private plane.



We also had a plan to replace physicians and equipment -- within 24 hours, we could bring in whatever  was necessary on a private jet. We believe we had a reasonably comprehensive orthopedic trauma service; as trauma surgeons, we planned to provide acute care in the midst of an orthopedic disaster.



We expected many amputations. But we thought we could save limbs that were salvageable, particularly those of children. We recognized that in an underdeveloped country, a limb amputation may be a death sentence. It does not have to be so.



We thought our plan was a good one, but we soon learned we were incredibly naive. Disaster management in Haiti was nonexistent.



The difficulties in getting in -- despite the intelligence we had from people on the ground and Dr. Helfet's  connections with Partners in Health and Bill and Hillary Clinton -- only hinted at the difficulties we would have once we arrived.



We started out Friday morning and got a slot to get into Port-au-Prince on Friday. That was canceled when we were on the runway and was rescheduled for the next day. We were diverted to the Dominican Republic and planned on arriving in Port-au-Prince on Saturday.



That Saturday morning slot also was canceled and postponed until the afternoon. The airport had one runway and hundreds of planes trying to land.  But nobody was prioritizing the flights.



Once we finally landed, we were taken to the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince with our medical supplies. We had been told that this hospital was up and running with two functioning operating rooms.



Once we arrived,  we saw a severely damaged hospital with no running water and only limited electrical power, supplied by a generator. Surgeries were being performed in the equivalent of a large storage closet, where amputations were performed with hacksaws.



This facility could not nearly accommodate our equipment nor our expertise to treat the volume of injuries we saw.



We quickly took our second option: Community Hospital of Haiti, about two miles away. There, we found about 750 patients lying on the floor. But the facility had running water, electricity and two functional operating rooms.



We found scores of patients with pus dripping out of open extremity fractures and crush injuries. Some wounds were already ridden with maggots.



About a third of these victims were children. The entire hospital smelled of infected, rotting limbs and death. Later on, we would judge our surgical progress by the diminishment of the stench.



In our naïveté, we didn't expect that the two anesthesia machines would not work; that there would be only one cautery available in the entire hospital to stop bleeding; that an operating room sterilizer fit only instruments the size of a cigar box; that there would be no sterile saline, no functioning fluoroscopy machine, no blood for transfusions, no ability to do lab work; and the only local staff was a ragtag group of voluntary health providers who, like us, had made it there on their own.



As we got up and running and organized the patients for surgery, we told our contacts in the United States what we needed. More supplies were loaded for a second trip. Those  included a battery-operated pulse lavage, a huge supply of sterile saline and the soft goods we needed desperately in the operating room.



The plane landed as planned Sunday night, and the new equipment was loaded onto a truck
What did doctors gather? What did they find? What did the doctors bring to Haiti? What country was the plane going to? When was the plane sent over?
13-member team of surgeons, anesthesiologists and operating room nurses, with a massive amount of orthopedic operating room equipment, we found about 750 patients lying on the floor. a massive amount of orthopedic operating room equipment, Port-au-Prince Saturday.
question: What did doctors gather?, answer: 13-member team of surgeons, anesthesiologists and operating room nurses, with a massive amount of orthopedic operating room equipment, | question: What did they find?, answer: we found about 750 patients lying on the floor. | question: What did the doctors bring to Haiti?, answer: a massive amount of orthopedic operating room equipment, | question: What country was the plane going to?, answer: Port-au-Prince | question: When was the plane sent over?, answer: Saturday.