Caring for the casualties of the Libyan war

Just a few short weeks ago, Richard Field, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Epsom Hospital, was all set to go out to Haiti to help with Merlin’s continuing relief operation in that earthquake-shattered country. But then he received a phone call from a friend and fellow-surgeon who had just been in Libya, assessing the situation at the Libya-Tunisia border.

Richard’s colleague told him a distressing story of injured refugees from the Libyan war who were in desperate need of medical help. Finally, Richard recalls: “He asked if I could help, and I said I was delighted to.”

Soon afterwards, with the full support of Merlin, Richard was heading out to one of the most dangerous places in the world. There he found an unfolding humanitarian disaster on an enormous scale.

 “In total, around 270,000 people from the Nafusa mountain region in western Libya fled to Tunisia when the fighting started,” says Richard.

“It was a mass exodus, and some towns and villages in that region were depopulated by up to ninety per cent. This put immense pressure on local services, especially hospitals.”

Richard was based at Tataouine regional hospital, near the Libyan border in southern Tunisia. Because of the hospital’s location, staff often found themselves close to the frontline, treating those caught up in the fighting. And within hours Richard found himself in the thick of the crisis.

“We generally dealt with the aftermath of skirmishes,” he says. “There would be one or two hundred from each side engaged in small-arms fire-fights for a few hours, leaving perhaps four or five dead with others wounded. We treated everyone, regardless of what side they were on.”

For Richard, working at the Tataouine hospital was a remarkable learning experience, in which he gained great respect for the hard-pressed hospital staff.

He says: “In the UK we are blessed with first-rate equipment, fantastic facilities and highly trained staff. The Tataouine hospital lacks the equipment and facilities we enjoy, but has a highly motivated and capable workforce who manage to make the best out of limited resources.”

Richard has now returned home, having helped with hundreds of potentially life-saving operations. What’s more, the impact he has made at Tataouine will continue. Richard has drafted a report describing the situation on the ground and setting out what help and support the hospital needs if it is to cope with the continuing crisis.

The report, commissioned by Merlin, has been shared with a number of organisations, including the Department for International Development, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organisation. Hopefully it will lead to health care improvements at Tataouine and other hospitals that are doing amazing work in the midst of this conflict.

Richard Field’s mission to the Libya-Tunisia border is one more example of how Merlin medical experts, supported by you, are saving and changing lives every day.

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