Turkey earthquake: Armed Forces send 106 medical personnel on humanitarian mission

SEPANG - The Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) have sent 106 medical personnel, including 14 experts of various fields and 12 medical officers, to join the humanitarian aid mission for victims of the earthquake in Turkey.

MAF Medical Services director-general, Lt Gen Datuk Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh said the medical team will leave for Turkey in stages, with 39 people leaving yesterday morning, 34 people last night, and the remainder today.

"The experts include general surgeons, orthopaedic experts, paediatricians along with women medicine experts, all of whom are greatly needed in the affected areas right now,” he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here before departing for Turkey tonight.

He said the medical personnel sent were based on the possible injuries sustained by the earthquake victims, adding that MAF would build a stage-three Malaysian Field Hospital in Turkey for a period of six weeks to provide humanitarian aid to the victims there.

The field hospital is greatly needed as medical facilities in the disaster area have mostly been destroyed, which has limited the capacity of medical facilities to provide effective treatment.

"With the field hospital in the affected area, it will alleviate the burden, especially in terms of medical needs there,” he said.

Tens of thousands of people were killed by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit last Monday.

Turkey declared a three-month state of emergency on Tuesday in 10 regions, Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa to ensure that the search and rescue operations can be conducted smoothly. - BERNAMA