The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) marked the 10th anniversary of the deadly U.S. airstrike on its trauma center in Kunduz, Afghanistan, saying its new hospital continues to provide emergency care despite the tragedy that claimed 42 lives.
In the early hours of Oct. 3, 2015, U.S. airstrikes hit the
MSF hospital repeatedly for more than an hour, destroying its main building
that housed the intensive care unit, emergency department, laboratory, and
mental health and physiotherapy wards.
“The operating theater where I had been working on the night
of the attack had holes in its ceiling and walls. Oxygen bottles and the
operating table were lying in pieces. Time had frozen: You could sense the
moment when everyone stopped working,” said Dr. Sayed Hamed Hashemy, a
survivor.
MSF said it had shared the hospital’s GPS coordinates with
U.S. and Afghan authorities ahead of the strike. The organization later called
for an independent investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding
Commission, but the probe could not proceed without agreement from Washington
and Kabul. MSF released its own internal review in November 2015.
The Kunduz trauma center had been the only specialized
facility of its kind in northern Afghanistan. At the peak of fighting in
September 2015, MSF expanded its capacity from 92 to 150 beds to cope with an
influx of patients suffering injuries from gunfire, bomb blasts, and shrapnel.
Following the attack, MSF suspended operations in
northeastern Afghanistan. It resumed medical services in Kunduz more than a
year later and began planning for a new trauma hospital in 2017. Construction
began in late 2018 after the removal of landmines from the site.
“Despite the destruction of our hospital and the lives lost
that night, MSF remains committed to providing urgent, impartial care for
people caught in conflict,” the organization said.
