IDF opening field hospital in disaster-ravaged Japan

Medical delegation will complete construction of a field hospital near Minamisanriku, a village devastated by the tsunami.

By YAAKOV KATZ
IDF in Japan 311 (photo credit: IDF Spokesman)
IDF in Japan 311
(photo credit: IDF Spokesman)
The IDF medical delegation to Japan will begin admitting patients on Tuesday morning after it completes construction of a field hospital near Minamisanriku, a village devastated by the tsunami that hit the country earlier this month.
Brig.-Gen. Shalom Ben- Aryeh, commander of the 53- member delegation – which consists of officers from the Home Front Command and the IDF’s Medical Corps – said the medical clinic would include surgical, pediatrics and maternity wards, as well as a intensive care unit, pharmacy and laboratory.
Seven Hebrew-speaking Japanese nationals joined the delegation on Monday to provide translation services and volunteer as liaisons with the local population.
The delegation met with local Japanese journalists on Monday and asked them to report on the establishment of the new clinic so it will attract as many patients as possible.
The delegation arrived on Sunday with 62 tons of medical supplies.
Radiation levels in the area where the IDF aid delegation has deployed are being tracked by experts from the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission and IDF Medical Corps.
“The scenes here are worse than in an earthquake,” Ben- Aryeh said in an interview from Japan. “It looks like after a meteor strike or a nuclear explosion. Everything from mud, water, wood, trees, cars, trucks and debris are all mixed together.”