Finnish Red Cross sends one million euros to a field hospital in Gaza

Funds from the Disaster Relief Fund will be used to maintain the Red Cross field hospital in Rafah and to support its operation.  

“The need for the hospital continues to grow, and it is constantly operating at overcapacity. Dozens of patients with gunshot and shrapnel wounds are brought to the emergency room almost every day. With the hospital repeatedly filling up with patients in critical condition, the personnel at our field hospital have resorted to every means possible to save lives: physiotherapists are assisting nurses, cleaning and treating wounds and taking vitals, cleaners are moving stretchers and midwives are providing pain relief and holding the hands of those who are beyond saving,” says Finnish Red Cross Director of International Operations Tiina Saarikoski. 

Field hospitals set up in crisis areas are, as their name suggests, temporary solutions intended to support local healthcare until permanent health services can be organised on site. Typically, field hospitals are designed to remain in operation for a few months.

“It is very rare that a field hospital must be used for such a long time. Now, the people’s distress is getting worse and worse – the healthcare system in Gaza has collapsed and people no longer have the means to live normal lives. The field hospital is only a small part of the essential healthcare and all the other humanitarian assistance that would be needed on site. It is the responsibility of policy makers to stop this unspeakable humanitarian disaster, which in all its tragedy is entirely man-made,” Saarikoski says.

Finnish Red Cross sends staff to the field hospital 

Funds donated by the Finnish Red Cross are also used to send personnel to the field hospital. From May 2024 onwards, the Finnish Red Cross has deployed a total of 35 people to the field hospital, including nurses, midwives, doctors and technical experts. 

Since May 2024, the field hospital has performed around 7,400 operations and attended 566 childbirths. The hospital is run by the International Committee of the Red Cross in cooperation with national Red Cross societies from various countries, including the Finnish Red Cross.

The field hospital in Rafah is part of the Finnish Red Cross’s more extensive relief operation to help those suffering from the Gaza–Israel conflict. The relief operation is funded through funds for humanitarian aid of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Disaster Relief Fund of the Finnish Red Cross. Now, in addition to the one million euros from the Disaster Relief Fund, the Finnish Red Cross will direct to the field hospital one million euros previously granted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland to the operation of the Emergency Response Units of the Finnish Red Cross. 

So far, the Finnish Red Cross aid work has involved sending aid workers and financial and material support to International Red Cross aid operations, among other things.