British surgeons call in American help

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 30 (UPI) -- British surgeons called in an American surgical team to help at the main field hospital in Afghanistan after a surge in wounded, a surgeon said Thursday.

"As a result, partially of the exhaustion of the surgeons and the very long hours that they were working … a surgical team from one of the U.S. facilities has moved temporarily down to reinforce the facility in (Camp) Bastion," Surgeon Rear Adm. Lionel Jarvis, assistant chief of defense staff responsible for health, told The Guardian.

The Ministry of Defense released figures that showed the highest casualties since the conflict began. During the first two weeks of July, 57 soldiers were wounded, 16 seriously or very seriously.

"It is naturally stressful. It is always very emotional, particularly when you are cutting off camouflage you recognize as your own (the British army's)," Col. Peter Mahoney, defense professor of anesthesia and critical care at the Royal Center of Defense Medicine, said just after his return from Camp Bastion.