Emergency Medicine: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

A War Long Forgotten-Humanitarian Aid Mission for Victims of the Syrian Civil War

Avi Benov, Itay Zoarets, Elon Glassberg, Barak Cohen, Ran Ankory, Salman Zarka, Jacob Chen, Avi Yitzhak, David Dagan and Tarif Bader

Introduction: The Syrian civil war erupted in March 2011. The country’s health care and social resources have suffered heavy damage and, in some areas, stopped to exist. Since March 2013 the Israeli Defense Forces-Medical Corps (IDF-MC) has operated a humanitarian operation to help the wounded reaching the Israeli border.
Methods: A Forward Surgical Team (FST) operated a role 2+ Medical Treatment Facility (MTF), near the Israeli-Syrian border. The MTF capabilities were those of a FST; life-saving interventions including Damage Control Resuscitation (DCR) and Damage Control Surgery (DCS) along with medical capabilities of an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), hospitalization, nursing, imaging, laboratory, pharmacy and logistics as were needed by the unique scenario. Treatment was given per the Israeli patient’s rights law and the international law. Patients’ medical data were recorded
on a designated computerized system.
Results: Of 389 patients treated, 162 (41%) had traumatic injuries, 227 patients presented with acute medical illnesses or were admitted for trauma follow up. Average age was 23.6 years, and average length of stay was 2 days. Forty-one surgeries were performed, including 12 laparotomies. This operation posed several challenges: triage, safety, language and legal issues. The wide range of patients’ age and variability of injuries also challenged the facility’s treatment capabilities. The medical requirements of the wounded and relatively small staff mandated
maximal flexibility and versatility.
Conclusion: This mission was characterized by several unique features, even when compared to previous IDF humanitarian operations. It proved to be feasible and efficacious in treating combat-type traumatic injuries in the field.