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Russian planes carrying field hospital, medicines land in Guinea - defence ministry

The flight from Sochi to Conakry lasted for ten hours. The planes covered about 6,500 kilometres

MOSCOW, November 16. /TASS/. The two An-124 planes with a field hospital and medical supplies onboard have landed at the Conakry international airport, the Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson, Major General Igor Konashenkov, told journalists on Sunday.

The flight from Sochi to Conakry lasted for ten hours. The planes covered about 6,500 kilometres.

The Russian cargo is being unloaded now, the representative said.

“Both military transportation planes are carrying more than 150 tonnes of medical and special equipment for deploying a field hospital, including intensive care and intensive therapy wards as well as special diagnostics laboratories,” Konashenkov stressed.

He added that 200 people suffering from highly dangerous infections could simultaneously undergo treatment in the hospital and stay separately from each other during the entire period of quarantine.

“The field hospital also includes special cars for safe transportation of patients,” the Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson went on to say.

Three disinfection shower cabins, a distillation station, blood testers, four mobile electric power stations, specialized field kitchens, a mechanized laundry as well as modern medical supplies and infusion solutions.

Alexander Fisun, the Russian Defence Ministry’s medical department chief, said that all the papers and documents on the hospital’s operation had been translated into French for the convenience of the Guinean colleagues.

A few days earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the Russian defence minister to send a field hospital equipped to fight particularly dangerous infections to Guinea, at the Guinean side’s request, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

Guinea will get the hospital free of charge. Putin also ordered to prepare Russian planes equipped with capsules for transportation of patients suffering from dangerous infections in emergency cases, Peskov said.

The World Health Organizations reported last Friday that the death toll from the Ebola virus had reached 5,177 people, of whom 1,166 people live in Guinea.