Posted on 07/30/2008 10:28:39 PM PDT by SandRat
BAGHDAD — Two quality healthcare facilities will boost Baghdad’s medical community.
Once a thriving cardiac hospital, the Ibn al Bitar Hospital was severely damaged during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The hospital, located in an urbanized area of Baghdad west of the Tigris River, was destroyed by looters who stole all of the equipment and burned the building to the ground. Only the concrete foundation and the ground floor remained.
The hospital’s director general and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Division, worked together to rebuild a new modern and functional critical care unit. Construction of this two-story building began November 2007 and, at a cost of $371,000, is now complete. The facility includes 16 residential apartments within the hospital grounds for the doctors and staff who reside outside of Baghdad and need a place to live during their work shifts.
“Now that security in Baghdad has improved, we hope the new facility will be an incentive to draw professionals back into the area,” said Cmdr. Darlene Grasdock, officer in charge of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Central district’s-International Zone resident office.
“GRD is looking to build a dorm facility for nurses at another facility. This project was such a success, we are interested in patterning residential quarters for other hospitals after this model,” said Robin Parks, GRD’s Building, Health and Education sector lead.
Also located in Baghdad, the Alwaiya Maternity and Pediatric Hospital is receiving major repairs and renovations. Two years ago, the hospital could only support 70 beds. Now it can support 344 beds and provide a full spectrum of medical care for women from a population of one million. The hospital staff includes 45 doctors and 60 nurses and will be used by 3 medical schools in Baghdad for internships. Upgraded to meet current international and Iraqi health codes and standards, the hospital remained open offering full services throughout the duration of the renovations.
At a cost of $2.3 million, Alwaiya is 87 percent finished and is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. The renovations include a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, boilers, electrical and structural upgrades, a reverse osmosis water purification system, new medical waste incinerator, medical gasses center, nurse call system, data communication network, television system, elevator upgrade and fire alarm with a fire extinguishing system.
To date, GRD has completed 21 hospital projects and has 4 more that are on-going. GRD also completed 115 Primary Health Centers in Iraq and has 17 more currently in progress, 28 of these are located in the Baghdad area.
Iraq would have world class hospitals today if not for the Soviet-loving General Qasim’s 1958 coup.
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