WATCH | Operation Dost Continues In Turkiye’s Hatay, Army’s 60 Para Field Hospital In Service

A field hospital established as part of the Indian Army’s ‘Operation Dost’ has begun operations. The field hospital contains surgery and emergency rooms to help the earthquake-ravaged people of Turkiye. The hospital is located in the Hatay province.

In Hatay, Turkiye, a 99-member team of doctors, orthopaedic surgeons, general surgeons, Best Oral maxillofacial surgeons, community medicine specialists, logistic officers, and three medical officers provide medical assistance and aid to earthquake victims.

60 Para Field Hospital is a part of the para-brigade of the Indian Army, which established its hospital at a school building.

News agency ANI posted Lt Col Adarsh, second-in-command, 60 Para Field Hospital’s statement on Twitter: “60 Para Field Hospital is a part of para-brigade of the Indian Army. Immediately after reaching here, we established our hospital at a school building. We had a lab & x-ray facility here. We started the treatment immediately.”

“We also had people who were pulled out of the rubble after 3 days. We stabilised them and are providing all help. We performed a 3.5-hour-long difficult surgery at 3.30 am the day before, the patient is stable and was referred to tertiary care today in Adana,” Lt Col Adarsh was quoted as saying by ANI.

“We received 350 patients yesterday and 200 patients since this morning,” he added.

On Monday, an earthquake struck Turkiye and Syria, killing over 24,000 people and levelling many buildings. India has started “Operation Dost” to aid both countries. On Tuesday, India sent relief supplies, a mobile hospital, and specialised search and rescue crews to Turkiye aboard four C-17 Globemaster military cargo planes to assist the country’s rescue efforts.

On Wednesday, India sent humanitarian supplies to Turkiye via another aircraft. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar took to Twitter on Thursday to provide an update on India’s humanitarian efforts in Turkiye. “The army field hospital in Iskenderun, Hatay, Turkiye has started functioning with running Medical, Surgical & Emergency Wards; X-Ray Lab & Medical Store. @adgpi team will work 24 x 7 to provide relief to the affected people. #OperationDost, “Jaishankar posted images of the field hospital on Twitter.

Jaishankar had previously uploaded photographs of teams from India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) commencing a search operation in Gaziantep, Turkey.