Thursday the Norwegian Red Cross sent a rapid deployment health unit to the conflict areas in Georgia. - This mobile field hospital is designed for critical situations like this, says relief coordinator and team leader Hossam Elsharkawi.
Included in the rapid deployment unit are an operation theatre, a water and sanitation unit and beds for 20 patients. 12 Norwegian Red Cross delegates, including surgeons, nurses and technicians, have also left for Georgia.
- The field hospital will be attached to an already existing local hospital in the city of Gori. To begin with we will assist in urgent surgery, says team leader Elsharkawi.
Deployment in 24 hours
- The point with this hospital is to get were people are and need help, to make sure that people don't have to travel a long distance to get medical aid. Security is always important, and this unit can be moved to another location if the situation changes, Elsharkawi informs.
The unit can be set up in 24 hours, and is self-supported with medicine and equipment for 10 days.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
The leaders of Georgia's breakaway regions Sergei Bagapsh of Abkhazia (L) and Eduard Kokoity of South Ossetia are seen in the Kremlin before meeting Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow August ...
