A Belgian first aid and support team has set up a field clinic next to a severely damaged hospital in the Turkish city of Kirikhan.

Located in Hatay province, one of the areas most impacted by the February 6 earthquake, the local hospital had to close some wards and can no longer operate at full capacity.

The emergency centre, run by some 100 Belgian medics, is fully equipped and stocked with medical supplies to treat the injured.

Matthijs Samyn, team leader of B-Fast, told reporters, “We can definitely handle more than 100 patients a day, depending on the operations that need to be done. We can certainly handle 15 ordinary operations but also seven major operations. We have a full emergency room, we have X-ray, we have a lab, we have a pharmacy.”

Given the scale of the disaster, for many this field hospital is providing them with medical care for the first time since the devastating earthquake.

The Belgian team is expected to stay for two weeks.