Israeli field hospital treats, operates on hundreds of HaitiansDEBKAfile Special ReportJanuary 18, 2010, 10:18 AM (GMT+02:00)
IDF field hospital at full stretch in HaitiThe only facility in Haiti with a fully-functioning operating theater, the
large Israeli field hospital treated many hundreds of patients in its first four days and helped at least one woman give birth. Another jumbo jet loaded with supplies and equipment is due to set out to replenish the facility's dwindling stocks. Medical aid and other basic necessities are still reaching the millions of distressed Haitians in Port-au-Prince and its outskirts too slowly to save lives.
The estimate of 200,000 dead may never be confirmed as at least 80,000 corpses have so far been dumped into mass graves to ward off epidemics. Two men pulled out of the rubble - one a Danish UN officer and a Haitian by the Israeli rescue team working for eight hours to extricate him - may be among the last to have survived more than five days in their concrete traps.
The Israeli military team of 250 is working flat out in the city's Antoine Izmery soccer field, in a fully-equipped operating theater, intensive care units, child and maternity wards, laboratories, an X-ray facility and a pharmacy. One-third of the medical team of 40 doctors, 20 paramedics and nurses plus technical staff are reservists who volunteered for the Haiti disaster relief team. They are treating 500 patients a day.
A small Zaka team, which flew in earlier from Mexico, pulled eight survivors out of the ruins of Haiti University on Saturday.
Thousands of US and UN personnel have been mobilized to secure the distribution of aid in chaotic conditions, but have not yet been effectively fielded to help the aid workers struggle against dangerous violence and looting to bring succor to the needy.
