Posted on 07/08/2009 5:19:59 PM PDT by SandRat
BAGHDAD — The historic Ibn Sina Hospital will return to Iraqi Government control this fall. In accordance with the Iraq Security Agreement, U.S. forces are scheduled to return the facility to the Iraqis, October 1.
Currently operated by the U.S. Army’s 10th Combat Support Hospital (CSH), the staff will continue to provide quality healthcare for all patients throughout the next two months of transition.
Col. Raphael De Jesus, 10th CSH Commander, wants to reassure servicemembers and civilians that they need not worry about care.
"The mission of the 10th CSH is sustaining,” says De Jesus. “Our ability to provide excellent healthcare to U.S. and Coalition forces during the transition will not be interrupted."
Coalition service members and civilians will be treated for minor medical issues at Ibn Sina until July 15, when a new outpatient clinic opens on Forward Operating Base Prosperity, also located in Baghdad’s International Zone.
Hospital staff will continue to offer Emergency Room and inpatient services until Ibn Sina Hospital temporarily closes its doors, August 15, in order to prepare the facility for return to the Government of Iraq’s Ministry of Health.
Coalition forces will continue to receive current levels of care at medical facilities throughout Baghdad and Iraq, and Iraqi patients will receive care at Ministry of Health facilities. No one will be refused emergency care at any facility.
Ibn Sina Hospital was established by a group of physicians in 1964. Known as “The People’s Hospital”, the facility used a progressive payment system based on patients’ income and ability to pay.
The hospital was hailed as one of the finest healthcare facilities in the Middle East, and offered services ranging from emergency care to optometry and gynecology for average citizens. The Baath Party took control of the hospital in 1974, and reserved its use for ranking members and their families. Coalition medical units reopened the hospital after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003.
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