UAE's second field hospital begins work in Turkey as aid flights continue

The Emirates has sent 113 flights carrying 3,200 tonnes of aid for earthquake victims

The Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Field Hospital is the second such site sent by the UAE to be set up in Turkey to treat earthquake victims. Photo: Wam

The UAE's second field hospital in Turkey opened on Saturday and has started receiving patients.

The Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Field Hospital in the Reyhanli district of Hatay is the second to be established after a 50-bed hospital was set up at Gaziantep Airport last week.

The new 200-bed site has 20 intensive care beds, two operating rooms with full medical equipment, two intensive care units, a laboratory and a pharmacy, said news agency Wam.

Saeed Thani Hareb Al Dhaheri, the UAE's ambassador to Turkey, Brig Gen Dr Sarhan Al Neyadi, commander of the Medical Services Corps at the Ministry of Defence, and a number of Turkish officials attended the opening.

Brig Gen Dr Al Neyadi said it was set up completely in only five days after it was flown to Turkey.

The Emirates has played a significant role in a major international response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Turkey and Syria.

Support is being carried out under Operation Gallant Knight/2, led by the ministries of Defence, Interior, Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, alongside the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation and Emirates Red Crescent.

Emirati rescue teams have been conducting life-saving operations and essential medical equipment has been being flown in.

As of Sunday, the UAE had sent 113 flights carrying 3,200 tonnes of aid to the stricken countries, the Ministry of Defence said.

Lt Col Hamad Al Kaabi, commander of the Emirati Search and Rescue in Syria, is training Syrian emergency services personnel on the ground.

“We are racing against time to qualify the Syrian Civil Defence personnel through an intensive training course on the mechanism of using the advanced technical devices and equipment," he told state news agency Wam

On Tuesday, the UAE announced that an Emirati search and rescue team had pulled two young men, aged 19 and 21, from under the rubble in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras.

Col Khaled Al Hammadi, commander of the UAE search and rescue team in Turkey, said sniffer dogs were being used alongside staff working in shifts in the hope of finding survivors.

On February 11, an Emirati team rescued an 11-year-old child trapped under the rubble in the Kahramanmaras province.

The crew also pulled a man thought to be in his 50s to safety.

On February 8, the Emirati team rescued a Syrian family of four from the rubble in the same city. A mother, her son and two daughters were saved after more than five hours of digging through the debris.

UAE's first field hospital at Gaziantep Airport - in pictures