Israel Closes Field Hospital in Nepal After Treating 1,400 Patients
Israel closed its field hospital in Kathmandu at a joint ceremony with its Nepali counterparts.
The 60-bed field hospital, which treated over 1,400 patients during its 10 days of operation, was closed on Sunday, Reuters reported. The hospital performed 90 life-saving surgeries, and delivered eight babies, six by Caesarean section, according to the Times of Israel.
Some 150 Israelis staffed the hospital, the largest ever erected by the Israel Defense Forces.
“Let me express our sincere gratitude to the government of Israel and to the people of Israel for helping us in times of very critical hours for Nepal,” the country’s urban development minister, Narayan Khadka, said at the ceremony.
The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on April 25 and the resulting avalanches centered near Kathmandu rose above 8,000 this weekend, with more than 16,000 injured.
Also Sunday, three new temblors struck the area, at 4.0, 4.2, and 4.4 magnitudes. No new damage was reported, though they sparked panic among the Nepalese living in the open in the quakes’ areas.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO