JR team to help soldier and baby (From Oxford Mail)

JR team to help soldier and baby

8:50am Friday 21st September 2012 in News

A TEAM of doctors and nurses from Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital has been deployed to Afghanistan to help a servicewoman who gave birth on the frontline.

It is believed the baby boy was born prematurely to the Fijian soldier – who is understood to have been unaware of her pregnancy – at Camp Bastion on Tuesday.

Mother and baby are in a stable condition and are due to be flown home within days after a specialist medical team from the JR arrives in the Helmand Province base.

Last night the Oxford University Hospitals trust confirmed that a medical and nursing team were assisting with the repatriation of the soldier.

A spokesman added: “As a centre of expertise in intensive care for newborn babies we are able to provide speedy access to specialist treatment and care.

“We are pleased to be able to support our armed forces in the UK and abroad in this way.”

An MoD spokesman said it would not release any details of the soldier or where she is based.

Nor would it say exactly when the specialist team would be flying out as it did not want a ‘scrum’.

A spokesman added : “It is not military policy to allow service women to deploy on operations if they are pregnant.

“In this instance the MoD was unaware of her pregnancy.”

It is believed the medical team is flying out of RAF Brize Norton .

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