TEZPUR, May 13 � The Army medical relief team which was sent to Nepal for medical help for earthquake victims returned here on Monday evening after successfully completing its mission. It is pertinent to mention here that the three teams from Indian Army Medical Corps were dispatched to Nepal on April 26 for providing medical aid and relief to the earthquake-affected people.
These teams included 4004 Field Hospital, 4 Corps, Tezpur; 4033 Field Hospital, 33 Corps, Sukhna and 60 Parachute Field Hospital, Agra. Each Army team comprised ten doctors, including a surgeon, a medical specialist and an anaesthetist. Col Alok D Sen, Commanding Officer of 4004 Field Hospital was designated as the overall team leader.
The teams along with a squad from IAF Rapid Action Medical Team established a field hospital at Lagenkhel on the outskirts of Kathmandu which comprised a 40-bed ward, two operation theatres, X-ray unit, laboratory and blood bank facilities. A helipad was also established there so that the patients from remote areas could be evacuated directly to the location.
Over the next 15 days, the hospital set-up at Lagenkhel, treated 826 people, including 77 patients, who were admitted. A total of 68 surgeries were carried out in the location, including 28 major ones. Majority of the causalities were cases of trauma, fractures and severely infected wounds.
In addition, the field hospital sent out medical teams to Barpak, which was the epicentre of the earthquake and these teams of medical officers and nursing assistants went on foot from village to village and treated about 2,000 people on location.
All the patients admitted at the hospital at Lagenkhel were treated completely and discharged before two of the teams returned to India. The medical teams which operated under difficult and hazardous conditions received excellent support and cooperation from the Nepal Army and Nepal Medical Services.
