JAN 22: CANADA DEPLOYS FIELD HOSPITAL

via CTV, read full article here

Naval Task Force Cdmr. Art McDonald says with the needs still high, Canada remains focused on providing medical assistance.

"That's what we've assessed is the most immediate need," he told Canada AM Friday from aboard HMCS Athabaskan, anchored off the coast of Leogane.

"The need here is pretty significant given that aid assistance hasn't flowed in as rapidly to this region. That's why Joint Forces commanders decided to establish a CF field hospital in that area, something that we will be helping to set up over the weekend."

The military facility he refers to, dubbed 1 Field Hospital, will depart from Petawawa, Ont., Saturday to Leogane, which is near the epicentre of the Jan. 12 quake.

Up to 90 per cent of Leogane was destroyed in the initial quake, and more buildings fell when a 5.9-magnitue aftershock struck on Wednesday. About 200,000 Haitians live in the surrounding area.

The field hospital's team will include 100 doctors, surgeons, and nurses who will augment the medical care that Canadian Forces have already been trying to provide.

The hospital includes an operating room with two surgical teams, two resuscitation beds, two critical-care beds and 50 immediate- and minimum-care beds. It will be powered by its own generators, and will have laboratory and diagnostic-imaging capabilities.