The Hospital of the North – Reporting from Afghanistan

This is Lt.-Col. (Med.) K’s workplace. On the one hand, he is an ear, nose and throat specialist keeping hours in his office, while on the other he works as a surgeon in the operating rooms. He is quite busy, as he has performed more than 50 surgeries since his arrival in January, and this number includes only neck and head surgeries.

Lt.-Col. K participates very often in providing treatment for the incoming patients. What is more, experience has taught that the more difficult cases are regularly assigned to the Hungarian team (there are altogether three Hungarian doctors and seven nurses on the hospital staff) – which may be seen as an implicit professional recognition. Most of the incoming injured persons and patients are soon transferred from here. Those Afghan civilians who got wounded in ISAF actions are usually transported to the hospital of the Afghan National Army (ANA). The ISAF troops are transported home by medical airlift or to Kabul by helicopter or by the aircraft of the German Air Force which has been converted for aeromedical transportation missions.

Unfortunately, by now Lt.-Col. K has long experience in organizing medical airlifts. Until now he had to request the services of a specially equipped ambulance aircraft of the German Air Force on three occasions. The aircraft can transport six injured persons or patients aboard, and is able to provide them with care on the level of a hospital intensive care unit (ICU). On the most recent third occasion, he managed to organize their transportation home down to the last detail in an hour. In terms of medical equipment, the hospital meets all the Western European standards, as all the necessary equipment and instruments are available inside. However, should the equipment prove to be insufficient for treating a patient in a given case, the required instrument will be delivered from Germany in two or three days.

Photo: Veronika Dévényi

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