A medical team from Sherbrooke University Hospital Centre left for Haiti Tuesday morning taking with them urgently needed medicines to treat victims of last week's massive earthquake.

The group of nine doctors, nurses and surgeons is scheduled to arrive in the country Wednesday.

Vincent Échavé, a surgeon with the organization Doctors Without Borders, said the next three weeks won't be easy.

"I feel this will be something very difficult," he said Monday.

Échavé, also a professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of Sherbrooke, is leading the mission to Haiti. He worked in the country several years ago, and he said the violence then was terrible.

His main concern this time, he said, is the spread of HIV.

"There are many cases [of HIV] in Haiti and for doctors, for surgeons, you have to be careful not to get wounded because you can be contaminated," said Échavé.

The group is taking medical supplies including urgently needed antibiotics, anesthetics and morphine.

The team is flying through Miami, Échavé said, and he's worried the medicines may not make it past American customs.

Stéphane Lavoie, a nursing professor, said that despite the risks, it's important to help the people of Haiti.

"I was confirming my credit cards and I talked with the person on the phone, and she said, 'Thanks, Mr. Lavoie. I am Haitian, and thanks for going for my family,'" he said.

The group is expected to arrive at the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, about 70 kilometres north of the capital Port-au-Prince Wednesday.