Senate approves deployment of field hospital in Afghanistan

The Senate today approved the deployment the Czech field hospital to Afghanistan for 12 months as part of a NATO peace-keeping mission in the country. Although the deployment has yet to be discussed by the lower house, it has the support of both the centre-right coalition government and the main opposition Social Democrat party. Defence Minister Vlasta Parkanova (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) said that some of the costs of deploying the hospital - estimated to be 150 million Czech crowns or just under 7 million US dollars -would be covered by NATO.