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7th Cavalry Fights in Sandstorm; Medical Teams Treating More Iraqis Than Coalition Troops
Aired March 25, 2003 - 13:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is with U.S. military doctors. He's in south central Iraq, right now himself. He's joining us live.
Sanjay, tell us what's going on.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf, good evening to you.
We're in an area called the jump ward of the medical corps. This is a particular medical ward that jumps ahead, and is always taking care of patients who don't need operations but may still have some serious injuries.
You get a sense behind me how busy it is. It's like this 24 hours a day. Right now, there's about 16 patients, 10 of which are Iraqis and six of which are coalition force members.
Joining me is Dr. Ken Nixon. He's the doctor in charge tonight, he's the doctor in charge for many hours at a time. Thank you, first of all, for joining us.
You're the first voice that a lot of these soldiers, these troops, talk to when they first come in. What are they telling you? What are they seeing out there? What sorts of things?
KEN NIXON, U.S. NAVY: Well, they're meeting resistance out there. Those that come to us are those who have been shot, have gunshot wounds, primarily, sometimes from a motor vehicle accidents because it's dark and pretty dangerous out there.
Some fellows actually have been surprised from behind with maybe guerrilla-type tactics. But primarily, gunshot wounds is what we see here. And we have a large general surgeons and all kinds of surgeons who can take care of those particular types of injury, take them to the operating room, give them all the medication.
GUPTA: You know, one of the things that strikes me is that it's pretty busy in here. Were you expecting to be this busy at this point?
NIXON: Not at this early stage. I think, really, we're being bombarded by patients every day -- and it's OK, we're ready for them, we're prepared, and we've been training a long time for this. However, we thought we might see a larger number of the Iraqis, EPWs. But we didn't think we'd see this many. But we're seeing both them and some of our own Marines. But we're taking care of them all.
GUPTA: Yes, you're doing a good job. Listen, as the next few weeks progress, what concerns you the most? You're going to continue to jump ahead, what concerns you the most?
NIXON: Well, we're just -- we just want to make sure that we don't run out of supplies and that we're not overwhelmed with multiple casualties that exceeded the numbers of supplies and doctors and nurses that we have.
Right now, we can take care of at least 80, once we get our supply lines in. So hopefully we'll be ready for anything that happens.
We're also concerned about getting people medivacked to their higher level of care because here we just try to fix them up well enough just so they'll survive and then some Marines, we'll send them back, get back with their families.
GUPTA: Thank you very much for joining us. Best of luck to you, as well. You've got a very busy job.
Wolf, you can see it's very busy here. It's been this busy, really, since we've gotten here. We were surprised, as well, at how busy it has been. But the patients in here are getting very good care.
There were several Marines. They did share some of their stories with us. They're still waiting to notify next of kin. We're hoping to interview some of them, to hear from them first hand, as well.
Back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Sanjay, I know they're treating Iraqis and U.S. military personnel who are injured. Are there more Iraqis who are coming in for the treatment or more American troops?
GUPTA: Definitely more Iraqis are coming in than coalition force. The first couple nights we were here -- the first operation, in fact, that was performed here was on an Iraqi who had a gunshot wound to the abdomen. There are several more Iraqis in this particular tent, which is a non-surgical tent.
But still, for the wounded, more Iraqis in here than coalition force. Certainly, that's been the pattern throughout -- Wolf.
BLITZER: So you and your medical unit that you're embedded with, basically you're on the move all of the time? You stay put for a little while, but then you move forward. Is that it?
GUPTA: Yes, you know this is what is so interesting about this, Wolf. In the past, a lot of these medical units did stay stationary for quite some time. These forward resuscitative surgical suites, they're called FRSS, the Devil Doctors everyone's hearing so much about now, they actually do move forward. They're designed to be able to tear down in less than an hour, build back up in less than an hour, and be totally mobile so they can move with the troops.
This particular ward is called the jump ward; it jumps ahead continuously for that very same reason. This is sort of a new thing as far as medical care in the military. So far, Wolf, I'll tell you as a doctor, it seems to be working very, very well, these patients are getting excellent care.
Of course, they do not stay here very long. The plan is to start of stabilize them and to move them back to the USS Comfort or somewhere else in the rear -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And Sanjay, even as you're speaking and I'm speaking, sirens have once again gone off in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. Our cameras are being affected by the windy conditions that have affected Baghdad as well, but we clearly hear the sound of what appears to be explosions, once again, rocking this city of some five million people on this -- I believe it's day six of the war.
Once again, sirens going off in Baghdad. We're going to continue to monitor that situation.
I want to thank Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our medical correspondent. He's covering this story thoroughly, and incredibly, I must say. Sanjay, be careful up there. Thanks very much for all that excellent work.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
More Iraqis Than Coalition Troops>
Aired March 25, 2003 - 13:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Our medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is with U.S. military doctors. He's in south central Iraq, right now himself. He's joining us live.
Sanjay, tell us what's going on.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf, good evening to you.
We're in an area called the jump ward of the medical corps. This is a particular medical ward that jumps ahead, and is always taking care of patients who don't need operations but may still have some serious injuries.
You get a sense behind me how busy it is. It's like this 24 hours a day. Right now, there's about 16 patients, 10 of which are Iraqis and six of which are coalition force members.
Joining me is Dr. Ken Nixon. He's the doctor in charge tonight, he's the doctor in charge for many hours at a time. Thank you, first of all, for joining us.
You're the first voice that a lot of these soldiers, these troops, talk to when they first come in. What are they telling you? What are they seeing out there? What sorts of things?
KEN NIXON, U.S. NAVY: Well, they're meeting resistance out there. Those that come to us are those who have been shot, have gunshot wounds, primarily, sometimes from a motor vehicle accidents because it's dark and pretty dangerous out there.
Some fellows actually have been surprised from behind with maybe guerrilla-type tactics. But primarily, gunshot wounds is what we see here. And we have a large general surgeons and all kinds of surgeons who can take care of those particular types of injury, take them to the operating room, give them all the medication.
GUPTA: You know, one of the things that strikes me is that it's pretty busy in here. Were you expecting to be this busy at this point?
NIXON: Not at this early stage. I think, really, we're being bombarded by patients every day -- and it's OK, we're ready for them, we're prepared, and we've been training a long time for this. However, we thought we might see a larger number of the Iraqis, EPWs. But we didn't think we'd see this many. But we're seeing both them and some of our own Marines. But we're taking care of them all.
GUPTA: Yes, you're doing a good job. Listen, as the next few weeks progress, what concerns you the most? You're going to continue to jump ahead, what concerns you the most?
NIXON: Well, we're just -- we just want to make sure that we don't run out of supplies and that we're not overwhelmed with multiple casualties that exceeded the numbers of supplies and doctors and nurses that we have.
Right now, we can take care of at least 80, once we get our supply lines in. So hopefully we'll be ready for anything that happens.
We're also concerned about getting people medivacked to their higher level of care because here we just try to fix them up well enough just so they'll survive and then some Marines, we'll send them back, get back with their families.
GUPTA: Thank you very much for joining us. Best of luck to you, as well. You've got a very busy job.
Wolf, you can see it's very busy here. It's been this busy, really, since we've gotten here. We were surprised, as well, at how busy it has been. But the patients in here are getting very good care.
There were several Marines. They did share some of their stories with us. They're still waiting to notify next of kin. We're hoping to interview some of them, to hear from them first hand, as well.
Back to you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Sanjay, I know they're treating Iraqis and U.S. military personnel who are injured. Are there more Iraqis who are coming in for the treatment or more American troops?
GUPTA: Definitely more Iraqis are coming in than coalition force. The first couple nights we were here -- the first operation, in fact, that was performed here was on an Iraqi who had a gunshot wound to the abdomen. There are several more Iraqis in this particular tent, which is a non-surgical tent.
But still, for the wounded, more Iraqis in here than coalition force. Certainly, that's been the pattern throughout -- Wolf.
BLITZER: So you and your medical unit that you're embedded with, basically you're on the move all of the time? You stay put for a little while, but then you move forward. Is that it?
GUPTA: Yes, you know this is what is so interesting about this, Wolf. In the past, a lot of these medical units did stay stationary for quite some time. These forward resuscitative surgical suites, they're called FRSS, the Devil Doctors everyone's hearing so much about now, they actually do move forward. They're designed to be able to tear down in less than an hour, build back up in less than an hour, and be totally mobile so they can move with the troops.
This particular ward is called the jump ward; it jumps ahead continuously for that very same reason. This is sort of a new thing as far as medical care in the military. So far, Wolf, I'll tell you as a doctor, it seems to be working very, very well, these patients are getting excellent care.
Of course, they do not stay here very long. The plan is to start of stabilize them and to move them back to the USS Comfort or somewhere else in the rear -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And Sanjay, even as you're speaking and I'm speaking, sirens have once again gone off in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. Our cameras are being affected by the windy conditions that have affected Baghdad as well, but we clearly hear the sound of what appears to be explosions, once again, rocking this city of some five million people on this -- I believe it's day six of the war.
Once again, sirens going off in Baghdad. We're going to continue to monitor that situation.
I want to thank Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our medical correspondent. He's covering this story thoroughly, and incredibly, I must say. Sanjay, be careful up there. Thanks very much for all that excellent work.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
More Iraqis Than Coalition Troops>
