Netherlands military hospital operational

As part of NATO’s assistance to earthquake-devastated northern Pakistan, the first military field hospital from the Netherlands began operating on Wednesday in the central Bagh district of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. "Starting from a 40-bed in-patient care facility, the medical facility will provide care in the areas of general surgery, obstetrics, paediatrics and dentistry," Dr Chris Bleeker, an anaesthetist in charge of the operating theatre, said on Wednesday in Bagh town, 200 km north of from Pakistani capital, Islamabad. The first patient was an elderly man with a fractured leg who was evacuated four weeks ago from Bagh, and was initially treated at a military hospital in Rawalpindi, close to Islamabad. But on Wednesday, after being discharged from the medical facility, his leg wound started bleeding on return to Bagh. NATO is airlifting urgently needed supplies to Pakistan and deploying engineers, medical units and specialist equipment to assist in relief operations after the devastating 8 October earthquake that has killed at least 86,000 people and injured more than 100,000. The NATO relief operation has been launched through two air bridges, from Germany and Turkey. More than 70 flights have airlifted over 1,110 mt of supplies, including thousands of tents, stoves and blankets necessary to protect millions of survivors from the cold. In addition, NATO is in the process of deploying more than 1,000 specialist troops, mainly engineers and medical units to assist in the relief effort. The Dutch field hospital is staffed by over 160 personnel, mainly from medical and engineering fields, along with some staff for security and safety purposes. However, more nurses and doctors from the UK, the Czech Republic and Macedonia will join the medical facility next week. Dutch mobile medical teams, each with around 8 to 10 members, have already been helping patients in areas around Bagh since the team arrived last week from the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, Bleeker said. The medical teams are equipped with three ambulances and several 4x4 vehicles to get to mountainous villages. Almost 80 percent of the health infrastructure in Bagh has been damaged by the earthquake, according to local government. The NATO hospital is the second field hospital in Bagh, after Belgium-based Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) opened an emergency medical facility in the area in the days after the attack. As part of the ongoing relief efforts for quake-victims in Pakistan, the Netherlands has contributed at least US $50 million worth of equipment, including 500 winterised tents with capacity for 8 to 10 people, 500 heaters, 5,000 blankets, 500 mattresses and 120 stretchers. On Tuesday, together with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC) and the UK-based Islamic Relief NGO as implementing partners, the tents have been lifted to remote mountain villages in Haveli, a district of Bagh.