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But the cruelty of the jihadists — ISIL has circulated videos showing prisoners being beheaded, shot in the back of the head, drowned or burned alive — does not mean they are denied treatment if they arrive at the hospital.

The Canadian Armed Forces “respects and abides by the Geneva Conventions, the Hippocratic Oath and basic human decency of morals and ethics to treat another human who is in medical distress. This means that the CAF would not deny medical support to any casualty requiring treatment,” said Maj. Paul Doucette, spokesman for Task Force-Iraq.

As of Jan. 4, Canada’s hospital, which opened six weeks ago, had treated 120 patients, according to statistics provided by Task Force-Iraq. Seven of those patients were Canadian soldiers. Seventeen of them were Iraqi civilians and three were listed as “other,” which is how enemy combatants who have been detained are described. The bulk of those treated have been American and other western advisers and Iraqi and Kurdish troops who are collectively described as “coalition forces.”

The coalition had captured the ISIL fighters, Doucette said. However, exactly which coalition forces had detained the wounded prisoners and who has responsible for the chain of custody before during and after the prisoners received medical care in the Canadian hospital was not clear.

“They are in the custody of coalition forces,” Doucette said, without elaborating.

The Canadian medical team, which numbers about 50 people, includes an orthopedic surgeon, a general surgeon, an anesthesiologist and two emergency medicine specialists as well as surgical nurses. A Norwegian military surgical team also uses the Canadian facility which can care for as many as 8 patients at a time.

“We do damage control, we resuscitate and we do surgery. We keep them alive,” Morin said. After receiving emergency care patients are moved within 48 to 72 hours to other hospitals for additional surgeries or to recuperate.

The government has announced that the Canadian hospital in Erbil is a fixed duration mission of six to 12 months, Lt. Col. Morin, said.