Muzaffarabad, Pakistan – Trucks carrying more than 100 U.S. soldiers and the Army’s lone MASH unit trundled Monday into quake-ravaged Muzaffarabad on a mission Washington hopes will help generate goodwill among Pakistanis.
The Oct. 8 earthquake killed an estimated 79,000 people. Many of the injured have yet to receive proper medical care.
The 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital could save lives, but its arrival was delayed by a shortage of aircraft, vehicle breakdowns and the winding roads of the lower Himalayas.
When the unit finally arrived after a 27-hour drive from a military base near Islamabad, it still lacked equipment for major surgeries. That gear had to be returned to the military base because it was on long trailers that could not negotiate the curving mountain roads.
The equipment will be loaded onto other trucks and could arrive in a few days.
“We came as quickly as we could. Everyone we have talked to is very thankful that we are here,” Maj. Soo Lee Davis, the unit’s executive officer, said as the unit set up shop outside the city’s parliament house.
Davis, from El Paso, conceded that the lack of surgical facilities was disappointing, but he said the medics could provide other valuable services.
“It’s a small setback, but we can provide badly needed surgical care and treat outpatients,” she said.
Once the unit is complete, the MASH team will be able to perform 20 major operations a day.
In recent years, the Army has largely phased out the once ubiquitous MASH units, replacing them with Combat Army Surgical Hospitals designed to be more flexible and operate closer to the front lines.
