EMERGENCY

Life Support for Civilian War Victims

ACTIVITY REPORT 1994-2005

EMERGENCY
In today’s conflicts, 90% of
the victims are civilians.
Every year war kills or seriously
affects the lives of millions of
unarmed people worldwide.

EMERGENCY is an independent, nonprofit, neutral

and nonpolitical humanitarian organization.
It is dedicated to assisting the civilian victims of
war and land mines.

All of EMERGENCY’s facilities are designed, built

and run by specialized international personnel, who
provide training for local staff.

Since 1994 more than 1,800,000 patients have been

treated free of charge in the surgical, medical and
rehabilitation facilities run by EMERGENCY worldwide.

3
EMERGENCY
EMERGENCY operates in war and postwar
zones supporting victims with:
Surgery:
Surgical Care for victims of war
and land mines
Emergency and Trauma Surgery
General and Reconstructive Surgery

Medicine:
Internal Medicine
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Pediatrics
First Aid for victims of war
and land mines
Primary Health Care
Medical assistance for prisoners

Rehabilitation:
Physiotherapy
Prosthesis production
Vocational training and cooperative
workshops for amputees
Assistance to widows and orphans
EMERGENCY provides high-quality,
medical, surgical and rehabilitative
care free of charge in war-torn areas.
EMERGENCY promotes a culture
of peace, solidarity and respect
for human rights.
EMERGENCY
 Uzbekistan China

Tajikistan
Turkmenistan

Shebergan
Anabah

Kabul
Afghanistan
Lashkar-gah

Iran Pakistan

istan
EMERGENCY
EMERGENCY
In 1999 EMERGENCY transformed a former police
academy in the village of Anabah, in the Panjshir
Valley, into a surgical center for war victims.
Over the years, in order to meet the needs of the
population, admission criteria have been extended
to all surgical emergencies and major traumas. In
2003 a maternity and gynecology center was
established inside the hospital compound, and
new departments of pediatrics and internal medi-
cine were opened.

A second surgical center was established in Kabul

in 2001. The EMERGENCY hospital is now the big-
gest surgical and trauma center in Afghanistan. The
facility was upgraded in 2003 with a six-bed ICU,
and in August 2005 the only CT-scan equipment in
the country was installed.

In September 2004 EMERGENCY opened a third

hospital in Lashkar-gah, the capital city of Helmand
province. The southern regions are seriously un-
derserved; consequently, the surgical center often
receives patients coming from other provinces.

All hospitals are connected to First Aid Posts (FAPs)

and Primary Health Centers (PHCs) located in
heavily mined areas or in remote villages where
there is no other medical facility. Each FAP is open
24/7, and an ambulance provides safe and speedy
transfer of urgent cases to the hospital.

Since 2001 EMERGENCY has run a prison program

to provide medical assistance to detainees through-
out the country.

11
Anabah
Surgical
and Medical Center
Opened: December 1999
Activities:
Surgery for war and landmine victims
Emergency Surgery
Internal Medicine
Pediatrics
Facilities:
Emergency Room, Outpatient Depart-
ments, 2 Operating Theaters, Intensive
Care Unit, Patient Wards, Physiothera-
py, X-Ray Department, Laboratory and
Blood Bank, Pharmacy, Classrooms,
Children’s Play Room, Domestic Ser-
vices, Maintenance Department
Bed Capacity: 70
National Staff: 223
Up to December 2005:
Patients admitted: 10,306
Outpatient consultations: 33,096
Surgical procedures: 8,177
Anabah
Maternity Center
Opened: June 2003
Activities:
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Neonatal Care
Facilities:
Emergency Room, Outpatient Depart-
ment, Operating Theater, Intensive
Care Unit, Patient Wards, Nursery,
Ultrasound Room, Delivery Room,
Diagnostic, Technical and Domestic
Services Facilities shared with the
Surgical and Medical Center
Bed Capacity: 25
National Staff: 31
Up to December 2005:
Patients admitted: 2,492
Outpatient consultations: 12,968
Surgical procedures: 612
Births: 1,489
12 EMERGENCY
Kabul
Surgical Center
for War Victims
Opened: April 2001
Activities:
Surgery for war and landmine victims
Trauma Surgery
Facilities:
Emergency Room, Outpatient
Department, 2 Operating Theaters,
Sterilization, Intensive Care Unit,
Sub- intensive Care Unit, Surgical
Wards, Physiotherapy, CT Scan, X-ray
Department, Laboratory and Blood
Bank, Pharmacy, Classrooms, Chil-
dren’s Play Room, Domestic Services,
Maintenance Department
Bed Capacity: 95
National Staff: 303
Up to December 2005:
Patients admitted: 10,580
Outpatient consultations: 30,310
Surgical procedures: 12,173
Lashkar-gah
Surgical Center
for War Victims
Opened: September 2004
Activities:
Surgery for war and landmine victims
Trauma Surgery
Facilities:
Emergency Room, Outpatient
Department, 2 Operating Theaters,
Intensive Care Unit, Surgical Wards,
Physiotherapy, X-Ray Department,
Laboratory and Blood Bank, Pharmacy,
Classrooms, Children’s Play Room,
Domestic Services, Maintenance
Department
Bed Capacity: 70
National Staff: 234
Up to December 2005:
Patients admitted: 2,231
Outpatient consultations: 14,243
Surgical procedures: 2,314
First Aid Posts (FAPs)
and Primary Health
Clinics (PHCs):
Total Number: 26
Locations:
Ahangaran, Anabah, Anjuman, Ba-
gram, Bazarak, Changaram, Charikar,
Dara, Dashty Rewat, Grishk, Gulbahar,
Horaty, Kapisa, Khinch, Kohi-Safi,
Koklamy, Logar, Mirbachakot, Paryan,
Rokha, Said Khil, Sayad, Shutul,
Shutul Mobile Clinic, Sorobi,
Tai Maskan
National Staff: 199
Up to December 2005:
Patients referred: 10,506
Outpatient consultations: 918,811
Prison Programs:
Duab Prison: 694 patients examined
and treated from 2001 until 2003.
Shebergan Prison: 13,338 patients
examined and treated from May 2002
until June 2004.
Kabul Prisons (Governmental Jail,
Investigation Department, Pol-e-
Charki): 64,195 patients examined
and treated.
Social Programs:
Carpet Factory
Opened: April 2003
Location: Anabah, Panjshir Valley
Teachers: 5
Weavers: 33
 Guinea

Sierra Leone
Freetown
Goderich

Atlantic Ocean

leone
Liberia

EMERGENCY
In late 2000 EMERGENCY initiated a surgical
program to assist war victims. An abandoned
medical clinic in the district of Goderich, on the
outskirts of Freetown, was refurbished into a surgi-
cal block. New buildings were also constructed in
the compound to complete a fully autonomous and
high-quality medical center where EMERGENCY
provides treatment to survivors of war trauma and
to orthopedic and polio patients. Admission criteria
are now expanded to include all life-threatening
surgical emergencies.

In 2003 the government of Sierra Leone allocated

an extended area where EMERGENCY could build
two more wards, making it possible to open a
dedicated pediatric medical ward. Children are the
main beneficiaries of the program, most frequently
suffering from severe malaria, acute anemia and
respiratory tract infections.

EMERGENCY’s Surgical Center in Goderich is the

only training facility for surgical and anesthesia staff
in a nation that is still suffering the consequences of
a long and destructive war.

15
Goderich, Freetown
Surgical
and Pediatric Center
Opened: November 2001
Activities:
Emergency Surgery
Orthopedic and Reconstructive Surgery
Pediatrics
Facilities:
Emergency Room, Outpatient Depart-
ment, 2 Operating Theaters, Steril-
ization, Intensive Care Unit, Patient
Wards, Physiotherapy, X-Ray Depart-
ment, Laboratory and Blood Bank,
Pharmacy, Classrooms, Children’s Play
Room, Domestic Services
Bed Capacity: 100
National Staff: 238
Up to December 2005:
Patients admitted: 11,693
Outpatient consultations: 124,280
Surgical procedures: 5,662

16 EMERGENCY
 Turkey

Choman
Erbil
Sulaimaniya
Syria Iran
Iraq
Baghdad
Jordan

Saudi Arabia Kuwait

EMERGENCY
EMERGENCY
EMERGENCY has been functioning in Iraq since
March 1995, initially in the Iraq/Iran border city
of Choman. The Sulaimaniya and Erbil surgical
centers opened in 1996 and 1998, respectively,
offering high-quality surgical assistance to victims
of land mines and war. Both centers incorporated
specialized units for burn and spinal patients.

Hundreds of thousands of war victims have been

assisted through the years in these surgical centers,
where, with the continuous presence of interna-
tional staff and uninterrupted on-the-job training
of national medical staff, it has been possible to
reach complete technical sustainability. In April
2005, once economic viability was also achieved,
the Sulaimaniya and Erbil surgical centers and their
network of First Aid Posts were transferred to the
regional health authorities.

The centers are fully integrated into the national

health system; they offer their highly qualified ser-
vices free of charge to all patients.

EMERGENCY continues its work in Iraq with a

rehabilitation and social reintegration program,
which was started in 1998 with the establishment of
EMERGENCY’s Rehabilitation and Social Reintegra-
tion Center in Sulaimaniya.

This center provides lower and upper limb prosthet-

ic services, physical rehabilitation and vocational
training to amputees, and assists them in starting
professional cooperative workshops.

21
Sulaimaniya Erbil Sulaimaniya
Surgical Center Surgical Center Rehabilitation Center
for War Victims for War Victims
(February 1996 - April 2005) (June 1998 - April 2005)

Activities: Activities: Opened: February 1998

Surgery for war and landmine victims.
Medical and Surgical Treatment
for burn patients
Medical and Surgical Treatment
of spinal injuries
Facilities:
Emergency Room, Outpatient
Department, 3 Operating Theaters,
Sterilization, Intensive Care Unit,
Burn Unit, Spinal Unit, Patient Wards,
Physiotherapy, X-Ray Department,
Laboratory and Blood Bank, Pharmacy,
Classrooms, Children’s Play Room,
Domestic Services, Maintenance
Department
Bed Capacity: 100
Up to April 2005:
Patients admitted: 13,449
Outpatient consultations: 83,833
Surgical procedures: 14,756
Surgery for war and landmine victims
Medical and Surgical Treatment
for burn patients
Medical and Surgical Treatment
of spinal injuries
Facilities:
Emergency Room, Outpatient
Department, 3 Operating Theaters,
Sterilization, Intensive Care Unit,
Burn Unit, Spinal Unit, Patient Wards,
Physiotherapy, X-Ray Department,
Laboratory and Blood Bank, Pharmacy,
Classrooms, Children’s Play Room,
Domestic Services, Maintenance
Department
Bed Capacity: 100
Up to April 2005:
Patients admitted: 8,553
Outpatients consultations: 76,929
Surgical procedures: 7,616
Activities:
Physical Rehabilitation
Prosthetics
Facilities:
Patients Wards, Physiotherapy, Indoor
Swimming Pool, Orthopedic and Pros-
thetic Workshops, Domestic Services
Bed Capacity: 41
National Staff: 78
Up to December 2005:
Patients treated: 3,792
Upper limb prostheses: 556
Lower limb prostheses: 3,442
Orthotics: 570

Social Reintegration First Aid Posts (FAPs)

Program

Started: 1998 Locations:

Activities:
Vocational training for war and
landmine victims
Development of small business
cooperatives for disabled survivors
Facilities:
Classrooms, Vocational Training
Workshops (tailoring, leather work,
woodwork, light carpentery),
Domestic Services.
Trainees completing the program: 511
Cooperatives set up: 165
Akra, Azady, Ble, Chamchamal, Cho-
man, Derbendikhan, Dukan, Halabja,
Kalak, Khabat, Khormal, Kifri, Koya,
Makhmour, Mergasur, Penjwen, Qal-
lachollan, Qalladiza, Ranya, Sidakan,
Soran, Tawela
Up to April 2005:
Patients referred: 6,116
Outpatient consultations: 143,706

22
 Egypt
Libya

Khartoum Eritrea
Chad

Al Fashir

SUDAN
Ethiopia
Central African
Republic

Democratic Republic Uganda

of the Congo Kenya

EMERGENCY
EMERGENCY has designed a health program in
Sudan, including both emergency surgery facilities
in war-torn areas such as Darfur, and basic health
care and highly-specialized surgical services
in Khartoum.

Following a survey in Darfur in spring 2004 and the

provision of urgent medical assistance to the hospi-
tals in Mellit and Al Fashir, a humanitarian opera-
tion was set up in the state of North Darfur.

EMERGENCY refurbished the department of war

and trauma surgery within the Al Fashir teaching
hospital, the major referral center for the whole
state. The hospital serves a population of nearly
250,000.

For the past 20 years, about 1.5 million Internally

Displaced Persons (IDPs), have been living in
wretched conditions on the outskirts of the capital
city, Khartoum.

For the children of Mayo camp, one of the larg-

est IDP areas, EMERGENCY has established a
pediatric center to provide primary health care and
early transportation to hospital facilities. The center,
which opened in December 2005, is the only medi-
cal facility free of charge in an area where 300,000
people live.

In addition to the projects noted above, a center for

cardiac surgery is under construction in the village
of Soba, which is located on the Blue Nile some 20
kilometers south of Khartoum.

The new center, to be named the Salam (“peace” in

Arabic) Center, will provide highly specialized health
care free of charge to patients coming from Sudan
and neighboring countries. The center is sched-
uled to open by the end of 2006.

25
Khartoum Mayo, Khartoum
The Salam Center Pediatric Center
for Cardiac Surgery
Construction Started: October 2004 Opened: December 2005
Location: Activities:
Soba Village, 20 km south of Khar- Primary Health Care
toum, along the Blue Nile Pediatric First Aid
Facilities: Facilities:
3 Operating Theaters, Intensive Care Outpatients Clinics, Patient Ward,
Unit, Subintensive Care Unit, Patient Laboratory, Domestic Services
Wards, Emergency Room, Outpatient Bed Capacity: 6
Clinics, Catheterization Labora- National Staff: 15
tory, Radiology and Ultrasound, CT Up to December 2005:
Scan, Laboratory and Blood Bank, Outpatient consultations: 1,157
Physiotherapy, Domestic Services, Patients referred: 11
Maintenance, Guesthouse for patients’
relatives
Bed Capacity: 67
Referral Clinics:
A network of clinics will be set up
in the countries bordering Sudan for
patient screening and referral to the
center. The clinics, run by EMER-
GENCY international personnel in
cooperation with the relevant local
authorities, will also be responsible for
patient follow-up.
A dedicated EMERGENCY aircraft will
provide patients with free transporta-
tion to and from the Salam Center.

26 EMERGENCY
 Laos
Thailand

Battambang
Samlot Cambodia

Phnom Penh
Vietnam

bodia
Gulf of Thailand

EMERGENCY
EMERGENCY’s Surgical Center for war victims was
established in Battambang in 1998 to provide high-
quality surgical care and rehabilitation for victims of
war and land mines.

No vaccination campaigns were undertaken during

the civil war, and therefore a high percentage of the
Cambodian population suffers from polio-related
deformities. Consequently, EMERGENCY extended
its mandate to provide plastic and reconstruc-
tive surgery. In 2005, following a memorandum of
understanding signed with the Ministry of Health
of Cambodia, the EMERGENCY hospital began to
admit all patients with trauma injuries or life-threat-
ening conditions requiring surgical intervention.

In order to cope with the high number of landmine

victims among the refugees returning from Thai-
land, a field program in the northern Samlot region
was established in 1999.

EMERGENCY set up four First Aid Posts (FAPs)

and a referral system to connect the remote and
heavily mined Samlot district with the surgical
center in Battambang.

A fifth FAP was opened in January 2000 in Tasahn,

with an extended care ward equipped for treatment
of malaria, endemic in this part of the country.

Each FAP is open 24/7, and an ambulance provides

transfer of urgent cases to EMERGENCY’s hospital.
By the end of 2003 the local staff had completed
EMERGENCY’s training program, and four FAPs
were transferred to the local health authorities.

Currently EMERGENCY is still running the O’Tatiak

FAP as well as two mobile clinics, each consisting of
an ambulance that makes weekly visits to isolated
villages in the jungle to provide primary health care
free of charge.

29
Battambang First Aid Posts (FAPs)
Surgical Center
for War Victims
Opened: July 1998 Total Number: 3
Activities: Locations:
Surgery for war and landmine victims O’ Tatiak, Samlot district
Trauma Surgery mobile clinics
Orthopedic, Plastic Local Staff: 4
and Reconstructive Surgery Up to December 2005:
Facilities: Patients referred: 2,295
Emergency Room, Outpatient Outpatient consultations: 160,432*
Department, 3 Operating Theaters,
Intensive Care Unit, Surgical Wards,
Physiotherapy, X-Ray Department, * These figures refer to those visits
Laboratory and Blood Bank, Pharmacy, made to the FAPs at O’Rotkroh, Cham-
Classrooms, Children’s Play Room, long Kouy, Tasanh and O’Chom before
Domestic Services, Maintenance the facilities were transferred to local
Department authorities.
Bed Capacity: 80
Local Staff: 154
Up to December 2005:
Patients admitted: 11,951
Outpatient consultations: 43,027
Surgical procedures: 13,469

30 EMERGENCY
 Bay of Bengal

Punochchimunai
Colombo
Kalutara
Sri Lanka

lanka
Gulf of Mannar

EMERGENCY
Following an assessment carried out by an advance
team a few days after the tsunami of December
2004, EMERGENCY supplied the Kalutara general
hospital with surgical instruments and medical
consumables, enabling it to prepare for potential
further emergencies and to resume routine activi-
ties.

EMERGENCY placed highest priority on the recon-

struction needs of the country and the population
most gravely affected. The Tamil Rehabilitation
Organisation (TRO), a local NGO, collaborated with
EMERGENCY in establishing an integrated program
to assist Punochchimunai village, a Muslim minor-
ity community on the coast of the Batticaloa district
in the eastern part of the country. Punochchimunai
is being rebuilt with 91 houses, wells, a community
center, a medical center and a preschool.

Additionally, a “back to the sea” program was

completed at the end of July 2005, with distribution
of motor boats, canoes and nets to the community’s
fishermen.

33
Completed Programs
1994 – EMERGENCY renovated and reopened the
surgical department of Kigali Hospital in Rwanda.
Over a period of four months, surgical assistance was
provided for more than 600 war casualties and landmine
victims. A maternity ward was also reopened, where
more than 2,500 patients received medical
and surgical assistance.
1999 – EMERGENCY supported the Jova Jovanovic
Zmaj Orphanage in Belgrade, Serbia.
2000 – EMERGENCY sent a surgical team to Eritrea in
response to a request from the Italian Office for Coop-
eration and Development. During the two-month mission
the EMERGENCY team worked in the Mekane Hiwat
Hospital in Asmara, treating victims of the war between
Ethiopia and Eritrea.
2001 – EMERGENCY built a prosthesis and rehabilita-
tion center in Diana, in northern Iraq, and transferred it
to the local health authorities.
2002 – EMERGENCY provided pharmaceutical supplies
to “Casa de la Mujer” a network of women’s centers in
Managua, Nicaragua. The dispensaries assist female
cancer and diabetes patients.
2003 – EMERGENCY supplied Al-Kindi Hospital in
Baghdad, Iraq, with generator fuel, medicines and con-
sumable materials. In the same period, tons of medical
supplies were donated to the hospital in Karbala, 70
miles south of Baghdad.
EMERGENCY
2003 – EMERGENCY set up a prosthesis and reha-
bilitation center in Medea, Algeria. An existing clinic
within the public hospital compound was renovated and
equipped, and EMERGENCY trained Algerian staff to de-
liver specialized care. The center, named Amal (“hope”
in Arabic), was transferred to local health authorities
in 2004.
2003 – EMERGENCY built a prosthesis and rehabilita-
tion center in Dohuk, northern Iraq, and handed it over
to local health authorities.
2003 – EMERGENCY intervened in Angola at the re-
quest of a local religious organization in Benguela Prov-
ince. Two health centers were refurbished and equipped
with medicines and consumable supplies. EMERGENCY
managed the clinic and trained Angolan medical staff
for one year.
2003/04 – A surgical team worked in the orthopedic
department of Jenin Public Hospital, Palestine.
EMERGENCY built a new orthopedic ward, a new
department of physiotherapy, a hospital kitchen
and canteen. EMERGENCY was also responsible for
professional training of the Palestinian medical staff.
2004 – EMERGENCY supported the people of Falluja,
Iraq, during the siege of the city in November 2004.
Relief items, water and pharmaceutical supplies
were given to community leaders and to the local
public hospital.
2004/2005 – EMERGENCY rebuilt and equipped the
emergency surgical department of the university hospital
of Al Fashir in North Darfur, Sudan. The structure in-
cludes an operating room and 20-bed ward. The depart-
ment was transferred to the Ministry of Health
in August 2005.
EMERGENCY
EMERGENCY’s
Financial Resources
and Legal Status
EMERGENCY was established in Italy in 1994 as
a nonprofit organization to assist civilian victims
of war and land mines.
Year
euro
Since 1999 it has been officially recognized by
the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a Non-
1994

Financial resources managed by EMEGENCY to date.

governmental organization (NGO). 435,977

In February 2005 EMERGENCY was established 1995

317,828
in the United States.
EMERGENCY, USA is registered as a US non- 1996
profit organization in good standing. Its EIN is: 1,582,883
73-1731036. Approval of 501(c)(3) tax-exempt 1997
status is pending. 2,754,334

1998
EMERGENCY’s financial resources come primarily 2,157,363
from donations from individuals, private compa-
nies and local governments. 1999
3,979,566

From May 1994 through December 2004 (the 2000

most recently completed fiscal year) average ad- 6,200,616
ministrative overhead was 5.11% of total budget. 2001
14,147,638

2002
18,440,738

2003
17,440,944

2004
17,240,225

2005
13,500,000*
*Estimated balance

37
To Support EMERGENCY:

Credit Card (Online)

www.emergency.it (euros)

Personal Check
Payable to: EMERGENCY, USA
10592 Perry Highway #112
Wexford, PA 15090 USA

Payable to: EMERGENCY

Via Meravigli 12/14
20123 Milan, Italy

Bank Transfer
EMERGENCY, USA
Citizens Bank of Pittsburgh
Account No: 620-196-0221
Routing No: 0360-76150
For international wire transfer:
Swift Code CTZUS33

EMERGENCY
Banca Popolare dell’Emilia Romagna
(Milan branch)
Account No: (IBAN) IT18M 05387 12916
000000005128
For international wire transfer: BPMOIT22

Via Meravigli 12/14

20123 Milan, Italy
Phone: +39-02-881881
Fax: +39-02-86316336
E-mail: info@emergency.it
www.emergency.it

99/A Via dell’Arco del Monte

00186 Rome, Italy
Phone: +39-06-688151
Fax: +39-06-68815230
E-mail: roma@emergency.it
www.emergency.it

EMERGENCY, USA
10592 Perry Highway #112
Wexford, PA 15090-9244
Phone: 1-724-766-4518
E-mail: info@emergencyusa.org
www.emergencyusa.org
 “All human beings
are born free and
equal in dignity and
rights.” Recognizing
this principle “is the
foundation of free-
dom, justice and
peace in the world.”
Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Article 1 and Preamble
Paris, December 10, 1948
Design: Zago LLC
EMERGENCY