Sudan crisis: MSF teams deploy inflatable hospital to treat war-wounded
When a crisis response urgently requires a hospital… our teams can create one.
In the Chadian border town of Adré, an influx of refugees has been arriving from the nearby conflict in Sudan.
More than 15,000 people came over just four days in June, and the numbers have continued to rise since then. Among them are hundreds of war-wounded people crossing at a time, each requiring essential medical aid and many in need of urgent trauma surgery.
With the Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF)-supported hospital in Adré already overwhelmed, it was decided to deploy one of the most innovative pieces of life-saving kit available to our teams: an inflatable field hospital.
Last deployed in Nepal after the catastrophic 2015 earthquake, the hospital was set up in Chad on 27 June.
Working non-stop and around the clock in a remote region with a harsh climate, a team of 50 levelled the ground and inflated the multiple tents using large pumps that then also serve as air-con units.
The hospital was then stocked with medical equipment and supplies needed to treat both basic and complex conditions.
The inflatable hospital in Adré includes:
- 170 beds in total, including 108 for gunshot and trauma patients
- Two operating theatres
- One sterilisation room
- A maternity unit including 36 beds for deliveries and caesarean sections.
- X-ray facilities
- A medical laboratory
As well as Sudan and Nepal, our unique field hospitals have also been deployed in several large-scale humanitarian crises including natural disasters and conflict zones such as in Haiti and Syria.
Now fully operational, around 200 wounded patients were transferred to the inflatable hospital on 5 July.
It will continue to serve as an extension of the existing facility at Adré, sharing medical services and staff across the two.
Watch: A Channel 4 News report from our inflatable hospital
Warning: This report contains distressing events
£24 could pay for three splints used to immobilise the limbs of injured patients
The generosity of people like you means expert MSF medical teams can deliver essential medical care to people across the world.
MSF and the crisis in Sudan
On Saturday 15 April, intense fighting broke out across Sudan with a wave of gunfire, shelling and airstrikes.
The violence between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has trapped millions of people in the middle of an unexpected conflict. Many have been forced to flee their homes while access to essential services such as healthcare has become increasingly difficult.
Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) teams already working in Sudan have been responding to the crisis since its first moments.