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Malaysia Army medical team on duty for earthquake victims in Turkiye

February 20, 2023 at 5:15 pm

Search and rescue teams continue their efforts after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit Hatay, Turkiye [Aytuğ Can Sencar/Pınar Şebnem Gürel]

The disaster response team of the Malaysian army is providing health care in a field hospital they established in Turkiye’s south-eastern Adiyaman province, which was heavily hit by the massive earthquakes last week, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The group of 110 medical personnel, which comprises 13 doctors, 16 specialists, 81 nurses, and technicians, set up a field hospital in the Celikhan district after the twin quakes struck southern Turkiye on 6 February.

The field hospital, which can examine 150 patients per day, provides tomography scan and has a laboratory, intensive care unit and operating and delivery rooms. A General surgeon, orthopaedist, gynaecologist, dentist and paediatrician serve in the hospital.

Brigadier-General, Dr. Amran Amir Hamzah, told Anadolu that they arrived in Celikhan soon after the earthquakes and established the field hospital.

They established the hospital in a couple of days, he said. “Many of our physician friends came here and we set up an operating room. We have all the equipment (for surgery), and can perform operations here.”

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The field hospital, Hamzah said, will serve for another six weeks, or more. It has treated more than 160 people in a couple of days, he added.

“We sent emergency patients to Malatya (province). We here also provided medicine for patients. We can buy medicines we do not have from hospitals in the region,” he further said

“This is the first time I have seen such an earthquake,” Hamzah admitted.

Major Mohammed Fuad, an emergency room doctor, said as soon as they heard about the earthquakes, they packed up and set out to help the region.

He said they came to Turkiye to help people but Turkish people also assisted them a lot, especially when they were setting up the tents and meeting their need for clothing and heating.

The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude quakes on 6 February were centred in Kahramanmaras and struck 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Sanliurfa, Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye and Elazig. More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes.

At least 41,156 people were killed by the massive earthquakes in Turkiye, according to the latest official figures. Thousands of others were injured.

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