RED CROSS FIELD HOSPITAL OPENS IN BHUJ
01 february 2001

A Red Cross field hospital providing essential medical care for up to 400 people, opened in the devastated Gujarati town of Bhuj on Thursday. Bhuj, which was badly affected by the earthquake which struck India's western state of Gujarat, lost all three of its hospitals.


For the past week, the injured and the ill have either had to be taken to Gujarat's larger cities, or been treated on the streets by the town's remaining medical staff. The field hospital, located in a Red Cross compound behind the remains of Lalan College, is part of package of emergency relief provided by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"There is a great need for this hospital," says Dr Jayraman Gandhimathi, Relief and Health Coordinator for the Indian Red Cross in Bhuj."In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, doctors in the town had to provide urgent, critical care. Now, we can provide post-operative care, especially for those who have infections."

The field hospital - largely funded by ECHO with four million Swiss francs - set up by the Norwegian and Finnish Red Cross, also comprises two theatres with four operating tables and an out-patient service. About twenty Indian nurses and six Indian doctors will join doctors, surgeons and nurses from the Norwegian and Finnish Red Cross in treating the patients that come to the hospital.

"This hospital will provide a vital lifeline to the community here," says Halvor Lauritzsen, manager of the International Federation's relief programmes in Gujarat. "We will be helping the most needy and that is what we are all about."

The field hospital will operate initially for two months and could continue, if needed, for longer. Alongside the opening of the field hospital, was that of a mobile clinic run by the Japanese Red Cross at Sukhpur, a village 11 kilometres from Bhuj. On its first day of opening, it treated 60 people, many of them with infected wounds from the earthquake.

For further information, or to set up interviews, please contact:

Delhi: Patro Bijoy, information assistant, Tel: +91 11 685 8671/2

Geneva: Christopher Black, Information Officer, Tel.: +41 22 730 4377

Denis McClean, Head of Media Service, Tel: +41 22 730 4428

Tel: +41 79 2173357

The Geneva-based International Federation promotes the humanitarian activities of 181 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies among vulnerable people. By coordinating international disaster relief and encouraging development support, it seeks to prevent and alleviate human suffering. The Federation, National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross together, constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.