How to Build a Field Hospital
UK-Med is the only UK-based NGO verified as an Emergency Medical Team (EMT) by the World Health Organization. As such, we have our own Type 1 field hospital – a mobile structure that we can deploy anywhere in the world to provide lifesaving health care.
We’ve despatched the field hospital twice; responding to both the war in Ukraine and the earthquake in Turkey. From this hospital, which can treat at least 100 outpatients per day, our medics can begin their lifesaving work within the first 48-72 hours of arriving in a disaster zone.
The setup of the hospital is flexible to adapt to the different contexts we work in. In general terms, the hospital comprises 13 large tents that include a pharmacy, triage area, major injuries and resuscitation unit, and maternity care tent.
“In many ways, working in a field hospital is no different than working in a regular hospital, if we look at the standards and quality of care we aim to deliver. We want to help patients get the treatment they need. The patient always comes first, and that’s something we stress in all our global deployments.`` - Dr. Ram Vadi, Health Director
Despite being small and mobile, the hospital can provide a high standard of emergency health care for those impacted by conflict or disaster.
The field hospital is also entirely self-sufficient, to avoid overburdening existing healthcare systems that may be overwhelmed in a crisis. We supply our teams of international medics with enough equipment and medicine for the duration of their deployment.
The facility can also house medics if necessary. We have showers, a kitchen, toilets, and 30 smaller, adjoining tents for our medics to sleep in. After the earthquake in Turkey, UK-Med staff initially camped alongside the hospital in cold conditions, during which time they treated more than 7,000 people.
To learn more about what life is like on deployment for our medics in disaster zones, read our article ‘Life in a Field Hospital’.
``We’re the first UK-based international NGO to achieve classification from the WHO for our Type 1 Field Hospitals, joining an international network of medical teams able to respond to emerging health crises on a global scale.`` - Lizzi Marmont, Senior Operations Manager
It costs £250,000 to deploy a field hospital in an emergency, but from as little as £4, you can support our lifesaving work. To help us have the funding in place to respond quickly in a crisis, please consider donating to our Emergency Response Fund via the link below.
Every donation helps us be ready to respond to crises or conflicts at a moment’s notice, anywhere in the world.
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