A Charlottetown doctor is rethinking a planned medical mission to Haiti in light of this week's disastrous earthquake.

'You need lights, electricity, equipment, and a room to operate in.'— Dr. Don Clark

Dr. Don Clark is an internist who has been to Haiti three times on medical missions. He and a group of about 10 doctors, nurses, and volunteers were planning to go again this spring as part of an evangelical mission for the charitable group FAME Canada, a group of medical professionals who collect donations and offer aid to poor countries.

Clark said when he learned of this week's disaster, he wished his team could be there now to help, but he knows it wouldn't be easy. "The real issue … for a surgical team is the structure," he said.

"You need lights, electricity, equipment, and a room to operate in, and sadly I've heard that the hospital, the main hospital in Port-au-Prince, has collapsed. That's what I heard on the news, and if that's the case it would be difficult for us right now to work in that circumstance. We'd have to have some kind of place to start."

Clark said currently his team is not planning to change the timing of the mission, but is looking at locating it further south, closer to the epicentre of the quake.

Clark said he has met many people in Haiti during his previous missions but at this point he hasn't been able to reach any of them.