Italy to set up large hospital camp in Libya

(AGI) Rome, Sept 13 - Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti on Tuesday said Italy is ready to set up a hospital camp in Misrata, Libya with 300 medical personnel, logistics workers, and soldiers. Announcing the news to the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees of both the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, Minister Pinotti stated: "We are ready for a hospital in Misrata for a total of around 300 units. Of these, 65 will be doctors and nurses, and 135 will be logistic support staff covering maintenance, communications, administrative management, and so on. One hundred units will be a full-fledged 'protection force'." Ms Pinotti added: "Once active, the hospital camp will operate alongside the civilian hospital in Misrata. The framework is that of a humanitarian mission. Given the need to launch it quickly, the preparatory work carried out in August is designed to make the mission operational as soon as possible." The mission, named "Ippocrate" (Hippocrates), will be supported by a C27-J transport aircraft "for possible evacuation strategies". Furthermore, a ship that is already involved in Italy's "Mare Sicuro" (Safe Sea) patrol operation in the Mediterranean will also be stationed within reach of the hospital. "This ship is already providing support functions for 'Mare Sicuro', meaning it's not an additional vessel, but one that's already at sea," Minister Pinotti stated. "The hospital camp in Misrata will allow emergency surgeries and transfusions to be carried out. It will reach final capacity after three weeks, with a maximum of 50 patients." In the meantime, Libya is spiralling into chaos after a number of oil ports in the so-called "oil crescent" were seized by forces under General Khalifa Haftar, the right arm of the rogue government in Tobruk, which hasn't cast its support for the UN-backed goverment in Tripoli. Such a military offensive damages the stabilisation process in Libya, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni stressed during the committee hearings. The militants, he said, "are predominantly Sudanese and Chadians enlisted by General Haftar, and they have clashed with the oil stations' guards. It's unclear which oil ports were seized, but we can confirm that the situation is unstable". He added: "We cannot say whether the oil wells are controlled by one side or the other, as the clashes are rather limited in scope; we'll see. What is certain is that operations like these are negative because they damage Libya's stabilisation process." (AGI). .