Turkiye's Field Hospital On Romanian Border Helping Ukrainian War Victims

A Turkish field hospital on the Romanian-Ukrainian border is helping war-weary refugees from Ukraine.

A team from Turkiye's Health Ministry established the hospital at the Siret border crossing in Romania's northeastern city of Suceava to assist Turkish nationals being evacuated from Ukraine where the war with Russia rages on.

However, its services were expanded to treat Ukrainian refugees who reach the border after nearly two days of travel by bus or train.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Emrah Ari, the doctor in charge at the hospital, said that two emergency medicine specialists, two emergency medical technicians, and six assistant health personnel are on duty for the last seven days.

According to Ari, the doctors encounter complaints of upper respiratory tract infections as well as fever due to the long journey and cold weather.

Ari noted that they also helped those injured in the bombings. He recalled a 7-month-old baby and her mother, who fled their home in the capital Kyiv and fell ill on the way to the border, were also treated at the hospital.

Noting that it was the only field hospital in the region, Ari said: "We can do all the treatments and interventions that can be done in a state hospital in Turkiye. We have a fully equipped emergency service unit with six beds and an emergency observation unit with eight beds."

Stating that local paramedics also send patients to the Turkish hospital, he said: "We have the capacity to make an intervention on a patient whose heart has stopped beating."

Turkiye has so far evacuated 13,120 Turkish citizens from Ukraine.

Russia's war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow, and spurred an exodus of global companies from Russia.

At least 474 civilians have been killed and 864 others injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the war on Feb. 24, according to UN figures.

More than 2 million people have also fled to neighboring countries as of Tuesday, the UN Refugee Agency said. -