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http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/view-id.php4?id=20020927F00929 Czech Happenings September 30, 2002 Field hospital members bid farewell before trip to Afghanistan HRADEC KRALOVE, East Bohemia, Sept 27 (CTK) - A 140-member unit of the 11th field hospital bid a ceremonial farewell in the centre of Hradec Kralove today before leaving for the ISAF mission in Afghanistan in the next days. The army doctors will be transported in two waves, on October 7 and October 14. Before departure they will be reinforced by about ten soldiers of the Lithuanian army. "The Lithuanian doctors are currently at home, preparing themselves," chief-of-staff Jiri Sedivy said. The unit will replace the 6th field hospital which has been deployed in Afghanistan since the end of April and will stay there until the end of the year at the latest. The Czech army is planning to leave only several doctors in Afghanistan due to the deteriorating security situation. Sedivy said that the Czech doctors would face an uneasy task in Afghanistan. "Every mission is dangerous. The field hospital will be in a place which is not very friendly," he said. The 11th unit ended its preparation for the mission by a comprehensive exercise in south Bohemia earlier this week. The ISAF aim is to ensure security in Kabul and its vicinity. The field hospital has 50 beds and eight beds in the intensive care unit. Its doctors are able to form five surgery teams and perform up to sixty operations a day. Today's ceremony was to have been attended by Premier Vladimir Spidla, Senate chairman Petr Pithart, lower house chairman Lubomir Zaoralek and Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik. However, none of them arrived in Hradec. The soldiers therefore parted only with lower house defence and security committee head Jan Vidim and local bishop Dominik Duka. According to Spidla's spokesperson, the event was not in his schedule at all. He is to meet the soldiers together with Tvrdik in Afghanistan next week. Zaoralek and Pithart apologised for not being able to attend the ceremony. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
