An overview of Afghan National Army critical care capabilities

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization created the International Security Assistance Force to help support the growth in capacity and capability of Afghan National Army (ANA). This article describes the current critical care capabilities of the ANA, which was supported by embedded medical mentors to help build up Afghanistan's medical infrastructure after the fall of the Taliban. We reviewed the experiences of deployed medical mentors in ANA hospitals to report the progress and limitations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization medical mentoring mission. From October 2008 through November 2009, the continued development of ANA Intensive Care Unit capabilities has decreased mortality from 26.3% to 5.1% despite an increase in admissions from 19 to 78 per month. Significant progress was made in the critical care capabilities of the ANA critical care physicians. The medical mentoring mission is an effective weapon in building the health care capacity of the ANA medical system.