Government to discuss deployment of field hospital on Tuesday

The Czech government will hold a special session on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the deployment of a Czech field hospital to Iraq. According to Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik, the hospital is to help facilitate the humanitarian aid programme in southern Iraq, around the town of Basra. It is expected to be ready for deployment on April 5. A six month operation has been estimated to cost the state some 474 million Czech crowns, or a little over 16 million US dollars. A portion of the expenses is to be covered by the United States and Great Britain. However, Interior Minister Stanislav Gross said on Monday that the government needs to solve the problem of taking part in humanitarian operations in Iraq, without being a part of the US and British-led coalition that is currently at war with the middle eastern state.