Samaritan’s Purse will be providing critically needed medical care to injured Iraqis near Mosul
UPDATE (Christmas Eve 2016): The plane carrying our field hospital along with other relief supplies has landed safely in Erbil, Iraq. It was unloaded on a rainy Christmas morning (Iraqi time).
Samaritan’s Purse airlifted an emergency field hospital and relief supplies from Greensboro, North Carolina, to Erbil, Iraq, on December 23. The hospital will treat those injured and traumatized during the battle to liberate Mosul and surrounding areas, which have been controlled by ISIS for more than two years. The hospital is being established in partnership with the Iraqi Ministry of Health.
Since October a large military coalition led by the Iraqi army has been liberating towns on the Nineveh plains and other areas around Mosul. Some neighborhoods inside Mosul have also been freed, but the offensive’s progress within the city limits has been hampered by ISIS brutality and the nature of street-to-street combat. More than 100,000 people—about half of whom are children—have been displaced by the monthslong offensive. Many are fleeing with only the clothes on their backs and find themselves in desperate need of medical care and emergency aid.
The airplane was loaded in Greensboro on Friday, December 23.
The hospital will span more than five acres and be equipped with an emergency room, two operating rooms, pharmacy, and about 50 beds. Joined by dozens of essential support staff, 40-plus medical staff will treat injuries from gunfire, mines, and other explosives. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported an increase in these and other traumatic injuries among civilians over the past several weeks in eastern Mosul.
Christian medical personnel are urgently needed to serve for a minimum of three weeks at the emergency trauma field hospital. Especially needed are trauma/general surgeons, anesthesiologists, emergency medicine physicians, operating room nurses, and intensive care unit nurses.
Apply Now to Serve on a Medical DARTThe cargo jet chartered by Samaritan’s Purse is also packed with 400 rolls of shelter plastic, more than 5,000 hygiene kits, and 5,000 cooking kits. Each cooking kit includes plates, cups, spoons, a five-liter cooking pot, and a seven-liter cooking pot. These will be distributed to those displaced by the current conflict, as well as to those displaced in 2014 and now returning to liberated villages.
Ongoing Relief
Earlier this month we deployed a mobile medical team to serve alongside the Samaritan’s Purse disaster response team and national staff who are providing physical and spiritual relief in Jesus’ Name.
Samaritan’s Purse, in partnership with the World Food Programme, is distributing monthly food rations—supplies of salt, sugar, cooking oil, chickpeas, rice, flour, and beans—to tens of thousands of people at six evacuee camps.
Items for a field hospital were airlifted December 23.
In addition to food, we have distributed items such as medicine, clothing, shoes, bedding, and kerosene heaters to returnees y displaced families who narrowly escaped Mosul’s terror.
Samaritan’s Purse has been in Iraq for nearly a decade, investing in the lives of Iraqis through projects such as children’s programs y cuidados médicos. Our work has included providing emergency relief since 2014 to displaced people by ISIS.
Please pray for our staff and the medical personnel who will be setting up the field hospital and readying it for patients. Pray that the patients we treat will experience Jesus’ love in a tangible way and that God would provide opportunities to share the Good News with hurting people.
