Doctors Without Borders Marks Sixth Month Since US Air Raid Against Hospital in Kunduz

nsnbc : Doctors Without Borders (MSF) marked six months since the attack against its trauma clinic in the Afghan city of Kunduz by releasing first-hand accounts and video testimonies of staff and patients who survived the deadly U.S. Air Force bombing raid against the hospital.

An MSF staff worker walking through the ruins of the Trauma Hospital in Kunduz, hours after the air rain on October 3, 2015.

An MSF staff worker walking through the ruins of the Trauma Hospital in Kunduz, hours after the air rain on October 3, 2015. Photo courtesy MSF

The deadly attack against the trauma clinic operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Kunduz happened on October 3, 2015 bombing. The United States’ Air Force killed 42 people in the attack, including 14 MSF staff members, 24 patients and 4 caretakers.

The trauma hospital was entirely destroyed and had to cease operating after the attack. MSF stressed that it had informed all belligerent parties, including the Afghan government and the U.S. Air Force about the exact coordinates of the hospital, and that MSF had implemented a strict “no weapons at the hospital policy”. Australian intensive care doctor Kathleen Thomas recalls:

Our colleagues didn’t die peacefully like in the movies. They died painfully, slowly, some of them screaming out for help that never came, alone and terrified, knowing the extent of their own injuries and aware of their impending death. Countless other staff and patients were injured; limbs blown off, shrapnel rocketed through their bodies, burns, pressure wave injuries of the lungs, eyes, and ears. Many of these injures have left permanent disability. It was a scene of nightmarish horror that will be forever etched in my mind.

Dr. Evangeline Cua is a surgeon from the Philippines who was working in MSF’s Kunduz Trauma Center in Afghanistan when the U.S. airstrikes destroyed the hospital. Dr. Cua notes that she was operating on a patient in the Kunduz Trauma Center when the U.S. airstrikes turned her world upside down. In her account, Dr. Evangeline Cua recalls:

I stood transfixed, not knowing where to turn or what to do. All around us, bombing continued in regular intervals, shaking the ground, sending debris sweeping and flying. One. Two. Three. I tried to count but there seems to be no abatement to the explosions. I stopped counting at eight and silently prayed that we could get out of there alive.

Jason Cone, executive director of MSF USA commented:

“The deaths of our colleagues and patients and the destruction of the only trauma hospital in the region, were tremendous losses for MSF and the community in Kunduz. …We wanted to mark this solemn date by providing a glimpse into the lives of the people lost and those left behind, and by showing some of the lifesaving work we performed before the bombing. Six months later, we continue to mourn our colleagues and patients. The hospital remains closed until further notice, leaving thousands of people without vital medical services.”

Further capturing the devastation are video testimonies from an MSF staff member from Kunduz who walks through the destroyed hospital and describes the scene of the attack, and an interview with the family of the only patient in the intensive care unit to survive the attack — a three-year-old girl named Shaista.

The Trauma Hospital in Kunduz had since 2011 been providing free, high-quality surgical care to victims of general trauma, such as traffic accidents, as well as to patients suffering from conflict-related injuries, reports MSF. It was the only facility of its kind in the whole north-eastern region of Afghanistan and offered services to the residents of Kunduz Province as well as to people from neighboring provinces.

The NGO notes that MSF has not yet decided whether to re-open the trauma hospital in Kunduz because such a decision can only be taken after obtaining clear reassurances from all parties to the conflict that staff, patients and medical facilities will be safe from attack. Cone noted that: “We need to know that the work of our doctors, nurses and other staff will be fully respected in Kunduz and in all places where we work in Afghanistan. …We need assurances that we can work according to our core principles and to international humanitarian law: namely, that we can safely treat all people in need, no matter who they are, or for which side they may fight. Our ability to run hospitals on the frontline in Afghanistan and in conflict zones everywhere depends on the reaffirmation of these fundamental principles.”

CH/L – nsnbc 05.08.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/04/09/doctors-without-borders-marks-sixth-month-since-us-air-raid-against-hospital-in-kunduz/

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