Italian Field Hospital Experience in Mozambique: Report of Ordinary Activities in an Extraordinary Context

On March 15, 2019, Cyclone Idai made landfall near the port city of Beira in central Mozambique causing significant casualties and serious damage to infrastructure. The Emergency Medical Team Type 2 – Italy Regione Piemonte (EMT2-ITA) was deployed approximately two weeks after the disaster to support the country in need, providing essential medical and surgical care. The EMT2-ITA staff was composed of 77 team members including two rotations and integrating local staff. A total of 1,121 patients (1,183 triage admissions) were treated during the 27 days of field hospital activity; among all the admissions, only few cases (17; 1%) were directly or indirectly attributed to the disaster event. Only three cases of cholera were confirmed and transferred to one of the treatment centers set up in Beira. The EMT2-ITA performed a total of 62 surgical operations (orthopedic, gynecological, general, and plastic surgery), of which more than one-half were elective procedures. The objective of this manuscript is to report the mission of the EMT2-ITA in Mozambique, raising interesting points of discussion regarding the impact of timing on the mission outcomes, the operational and clinical activities in the field hospital, and the great importance to integrate local staff into the team.