Humanitarian Care by a Forward Surgical Team in Afghanistan

Abstract

The mission of a Forward Surgical Team (FST) is to provide immediate lifesaving surgery to wounded U.S. and coalition forces. The degree of humanitarian surgical care provided to civilians is a topic of controversy. From May 2011 to November 2011, the surgeons of the 126th FST provided humanitarian surgical care to Afghan civilians. The FST surgeons provided 553 surgical evaluations on 511 Afghan civilians. Of the patients, 95% were male and 38% were children. Forty percent of the clinic visits involved wound care and 20% involved a general surgery diagnosis. Seventeen percent involved an orthopedic diagnosis and 23% involved various surgical subspecialty diagnoses. Of the patients, 11% required a procedure necessitating the use of anesthesia. Interviews with Afghan patients and civic leaders identified a positive impact. This is the first report of humanitarian surgical care provided by surgeons of a FST in Afghanistan. Time and resource investment was minimal with no evidence of a negative impact on the primary mission of the FST.