Jordanian Field Hospital in Gaza stands strong despite Israeli bombing

Although the Jordanian field hospital in northern Gaza was impacted by Israeli bombing during the ongoing war on the Strip and seven of its cadres were injured, the hospital continues to receive and treat Gazans.

The hospital, which was established on January 26, 2009 and is located in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City, has a capacity of 40 beds.

Vital medical supplies and materials necessary to sustain its operations are airdropped to the hospital through Royal Jordanian Air Force planes.

Out of Jordan’s continued commitment to supporting Gazans in need of urgent medical support, the Jordan Armed Forces - Arab Army set up another field hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Since the start of work at the Gaza/2 hospital in Khan Younis, on November 29 and until December 22, it has received 15,700 cases within these 24 days.

The number of cases received daily in the last 10 days at the hospital, from Tuesday, December 12, until Thursday, December 21, 2023, reached more than 1,000 cases per day, with the exception of last Friday, when 401 cases were received.

According to figures from November 29 until December 21, the number of patients received at the emergency department of the Khan Younis hospital reached 3,878, while 6,862 patients were received at its clinics, 261 patients were hospitalised, and 4,473 surgical operations were performed.

The numbers show that the hospital is making an exceptional effort as it works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the last of which was on Friday, December 22, when it received 226 cases, all of them with war injuries.

The hospital, which has a capacity of 41 beds, includes emergency, general internal medicine, intensive care (ICU), men's, women's, gynaecology, and obstetrics departments, in addition to a laboratory, a pharmacy, radiology ward, a sterilisation room, and two operating rooms for performing urgent surgical operations.

The hospital's 145 staff members include medical and nursing teams from the Jordan Armed Forces’ Royal Medical Services, in addition to administrators. Medical cadres are specialised in general surgery, vascular surgery, neurology, thoracic surgery, urology, plastic surgery, orthopaedics, children's surgery, and maxillofacial surgery.

The hospital includes 41 baby incubators, reinforced with medical staff (14 nurses and a gynaecologist) to provide care for children.

The Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army provided 2,000 blood units to the hospital on Wednesday, December 20, from various blood groups to cover the increasing need for blood units as a result of the rise in the number of surgical operations for the wounded and injured in the ongoing war on Gaza.

The hospital is set up to receive cases that require surgical intervention and are transferred from Nasser Medical Complex, depending on the urgency of the case, and according to on an arrangement with the Director General of Hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Muhammad Al-Zaqout. 

But despite the Gaza/2 field hospital being mainly a surgical hospital, it has also been receiving and treating emergency cases of war-injured Gazans 24/7, according to the hospital administration.

The hospital administration said Palestinian police members and one of the hospital’s security staff receive patients and those referred from Nasser Medical Complex at the field hospital’s entrance.