A Rochester doctor serving in Afghanistan has said the military hospital in the war-torn country sees more major trauma cases every day than all major UK hospitals put together.
Colonel Peter Gilbert, whose normal job is as a GP at the Thorndike surgery in Rochester, is Officer Commanding of Hospital Squadron at Camp Bastion in Helmand province.
Speaking to a national newspaper just before the army suffered five more losses yesterday, he said: “It’s incredibly variable.
“We will get some days where it’s frantic, like last Monday when two helicopters crashed, and other days where almost nothing happens.
“But on an average day we see more major trauma here than all the UK hospitals put together.
“We are seeing injuries here on an almost daily basis that nobody in the health service will ever see.”
The 51-year-old is in charge of around 170 people, from clerks manning the hospital’s front desks to specialist surgeons.
In addition to treating soldiers and members of the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Army, the Camp Bastion hospital also looks after injured insurgency fighters.