Israel has set up a field hospital in Nepal which is treating the injured in the country. PHOTO: Avi Ashkenazi/ Walla News.

Israeli doctors have now delivered three infants to local women since setting up a field hospital in Kathmandu to help and treat local Nepali and Israeli tourists injured in the country’s recent earthquake.

On Friday, the third baby was born to a Nepali woman who remained at the medical center — a compound of temporary structures — for further treatment. The first baby was delivered just hours after the field hospital became operational.

The hospital was dedicated with a ceremony attended by Nepali Prime Minister Sushil Koraila, Nepali Chief of Staff Gaurav SJB Rana and Israel’s ambassador to Nepal, Yaron Mayer.

At the ceremony, the field hospital’s commander Dr. Tarif Bader addressed the almost 300 medical staff sent by Israel, saying, “the geographical distance, the difficulty of getting here, and the linguistic barriers did not affect our decision to send an Israeli delegation to assist in providing medical aid and saving the lives of those residing in Nepal, regardless of their origin.”

At the moment, the hospital is operating as the primary medical facility in Nepal’s capital, and the country’s prime minister and chief of staff expressed their deep gratitude to the IDF for the speed of their response to the natural disaster and their absorption of a large number of the country’s wounded, some of whom sustained severe or complicated injuries.

Locals were also appreciative of the Israeli aid that was delivered. Paramedic Ravit Amitai, who flew to Nepal with a mission from Israel’s Magen David Adom, said that they received a hero’s welcome from the locals.

“They thanked us; they were delighted to see us,” he said.

The field hospital has a clear operational process in order to maximize its efficiency. Each injured individual passes through an initial screening process in the absorption tent — which has been operating as a de facto emergency room. After that, they are transferred to the relevant department within the field hospital.

Operating rooms in the field hospital and the makeshift ICU have been treating the wounded. The hospital is also equipped with an emergency room, a delivery room and neonatal ward, as well as surgical and orthopedic departments.

The commander of the Israeli delegation Col. Yoram Laredo told Israel’s Walla that so far, “three life-saving operations have been performed,” adding that “every half hour a helicopter lands here,” carrying wounded, and that “the hospital is fully operational, with reservists working at the highest possible level,” to treat the injured.

The wounded from the earthquake – both Israelis and local Nepalis – were flown in to the IDF’s field hospital by helicopter. On Wednesday, 27 Israeli hikers were rescued and brought to the hospital, many of them suffering from mild dehydration, with seven requiring treatment.

About 200 casualties are expected to be treated in the field hospital on a daily basis, many of them children brought in from the environs of Kathmandu and elsewhere in the country.

Ilan Klein, a veteran paramedic who served during the the outbreak of Palestinian violence in the early 2000’s, said that none of the attacks he attended to in Israel prepared him for the flow of wounded he encountered in Nepal. “In Israel, if there is, God forbid, an attack, injured people eventually stop coming — but in Nepal they didn’t,” he said.