SHINKIARI, Jan 14: A United States field hospital here has treated 23,000 patients following the October earthquake. According to a press release, navy physicians in the hospital on Saturday treated the 23,000th patient — an 11-month-old girl suffering from paediatric sepsis, high fever, diarrhoea and severe loss of appetite. She was referred to the Mansehra District Headquarters Hospital for follow up.

“The little girl should feel much better by tomorrow,” said Dr Barrett of the US hospital.

The US military field hospitals in Shinkiari and Muzaffarabad provide the earthquake-hit people with medical care, including splinting fractures, providing emergency medical stabilization, appendectomies and a host of other life-saving procedures.

The US marine corps and navy teams have set up their hospital in Shinkiari while a US army hospital has been set up in Muzaffarabad.

The US forces brought operating rooms, X-ray equipment, pharmacies, laboratories and other assets to supplement Pakistani medical facilities hit hardest by the earthquake, the press release said. Surgeons, general medical officers, nurses, dentists and other support marines and sailors have been treating patients in the hospital since mid-October.—APP