With CMMB, Catena volunteered to help the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Obeid establish the Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains, which was built in 2007 and first launched its operations in March 2008. The region has been an area of active conflict since early 2011, and Catena is the only surgeon for the surrounding population of 750,000 people. The hospital's catchment area covers roughly one third of South Kordofan, equivalent in size to the entire country of Austria. Patients frequently travel by foot or hitchhiking for up to a week to reach the Mother of Mercy Hospital. At any one time it has between 300-450 in-patients. Patients visit the hospital for ailments varying from fractures, diarrhea, thyroid disease and cancer but also an increasing number of victims of bombing attacks or malnourishment spurred on by the war.