‘Living in Emergency,’ Mark Hopkins’ documentary about the group Doctors Without Borders, needs some first aid itself.

Don’t get me wrong. I think the volunteer members do wonderful work treating war-zone patients who otherwise might not survive. The statistics are impressive: The organization, which was founded in 1971 by French doctors and journalists, is said to treat 10 million patients a year, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

Hopkins concentrates on four Western medics, one a woman, who put their own lives in danger treating complete strangers in poverty-stricken African nations. They’re heroes, as far as I’m concerned.

But the film lacks focus, meandering along for an hour and a half. Some judicious editing is needed to make the film more urgent. As it now stands, “Living in Emergency” is more suited to PBS than to the big screen. In any event, be warned that there are numerous graphic scenes in the operating room.