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“These are my final moments”, I thought
One siren, then another; a helicopter and then another; all of them coming from the same direction. What is happening? The international workers of EMERGENCY glance around, expecting a call that arrives a few minutes later. “An attack on a hospital or a school – this is unclear – but let’s be ready.” It is…
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War is a day of lessons that ends in the operating room
An afternoon of lectures at the American University in Kabul. Suddenly, armed men raid the university, they enter classrooms, screaming, shooting. Hundreds of trapped students, some hiding, many manage to escape, even throwing themselves out of the windows. 24 of the wounded were taken to our hospital, 19 of whom were admitted. War is a…
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In Lashkar-gah, a constant succession of arriving patients
There are four girls, a little boy and a woman. The man accompanying them says that their home was struck during a bombardment, probably in an attempt to remove the Taliban, which by now, for days, has been trying to reach and enter the city. Seated on benches just outside the emergency department are another…
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The situation in Helmand
Helmand, Afghanistan’s most vast province, has for decades been one of the areas most tormented by combat. Despite continuous conflict, the local population has always stayed to live – often, just survive — on its own soil. Many residents have endured extreme conditions, but when one of their loved ones was struck down, or they…
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“Thanks. We did not know where else to go”
Shah Mohammad, a 60-year old farmer, was hospitalised with hand, shoulder, and leg injuries inflicted by a rocket that fell on his house during the Afghan forces counter-offensive against the Taliban in Chah-e-Anjeer, a village of a few hundred families in Helmand, southern Afghanistan. He was only able to reach our Lashkar-gah hospital the day…
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Lashkar-gah, battles are now a few kilometres from the city
In Lashkar-gah, in the southwest of Afghanistan, the war continues to create victims. In addition to bombardments, there are also battles a few kilometres from the city, now completely surrounded by Taliban militias. Most roads are now unusable. Our staff is shut into our Surgical Centre for War Victims, having stockpiled fuel, gas, oxygen, food,…
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“He arrived safe and sound. He is Tedros, my brother”
“I had tried to dissuade him in every way possible, but he is always so stubborn. I had told him that the trip was too dangerous, but he decided, nonetheless, to take it, eight months ago. From Eritrea he went to Ethiopia, then to Sudan, and finally to Egypt, where he caught the boat that…
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“I cannot wait to embrace my wife again”
“I cannot wait to embrace my wife again.” In order to make this happen, “T.” crossed the sea, risking his life. This is not just a mere manner of speaking; since the beginning of this year alone, over 3000 people have died during a crossing of the Mediterranean. She is in Sicily, having arrived some…
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Opening of a new first-aid post in Shoraki
“When I see our Field Officer’s number on the phone display, I’m always prepared for the worst … usually when he calls it is to inform us of the arrival of injured people or problems at the First Aid Post”, writes Georgia, a nurse in Afghanistan. “This time, however, I was happy to receive that…
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Helmand Globetrotters
Aziz and Nabi are two of our Afghan colleagues, who proceeded with the opening of a new First Aid Post of EMERGENCY in Shoraki. That ambulance has been going back and forth, filled with medication, to stock up Shoraki, and now serves to transport the more seriously wounded patients to our Surgical Centre for War…