Here in Japan, hospitals are seen as safe places where medical staff can concentrate on the all-important task of caring for their patients. However, elsewhere in the world, they are increasingly becoming casualties of war.
This was the fate of one hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz almost exactly a year ago. In an attack widely reported around the world and denounced as a violation of international humanitarian law, the Kunduz Trauma Centre was hit by a U.S. airstrike on Oct. 3, resulting in the deaths of 42 patients and staff.
The hospital was a facility run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, also known as Doctors without Borders). The nonprofit humanitarian organization is known worldwide as a provider of impartial medical care to people caught up in armed conflict, epidemics and natural disasters, as well as to those who are excluded from receiving health care.