| MOSUL, Iraq, Jan. 20, 2005 — Baquba Maternity hospital, a hotel-turned-maternity-hospital, now delivers babies instead of room service. The facility houses 229 beds and serves a local population of approximately 350,000. Workers completed the $700,000 transformation in Diyala Province on January 4, 2006. After the Iraqi government requested a change to the building’s function, a local construction company conducted the renovations. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) provided quality assurance and over-watch for the project. The modernization included repairs to the wastewater treatment plant, incinerator, and elevators in the hospital. Workers installed a new water purification system, as well. “This facility was originally designed and built as a hotel and was converted to a maternity hospital in the 1980s. The overall layout and utilities of the facility were constructed to function as a hotel. This included the elevators, sewage treatment facility, water supply, and the internal layout of the building,” said Basim Hussain, USACE Project Contracting Office Project Manager for Building, Health and Education, when asked the most interesting aspect of this project. “The scope to renovate this facility included bringing the elevators back to sound operating condition, installing a state-of-the-art medical waste incinerator, |
