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BAGHDAD, Iraq (July 8, 2008) - With the delivery of two large
truckloads of medical equipment, hundreds of mothers-to-be soon
will benefit from the opening of a refurbished maternity hospital
in western Baghdad's Karkh district.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division managed
the nearly $600,000 renovation, which includes a new heating,
ventilating and air-conditioning system and electrical and
mechanical upgrades.
Officials said the hospital had fallen into disrepair, receiving
no upgrades and little maintenance during Saddam Hussein's regime.
In fact, officials noted, no new hospitals were completed in Iraq
since the mid-1980s.
"To date, GRD has completed 21 renovations at 18 hospitals
across Iraq that will treat 15,000 patients per day," Army Brig.
Gen. Jeffery Dorko, GRD commander, said. "Also, working with our
government of Iraq partners, we have constructed 113 of 132 new
primary health care centers that will treat 8,000 Iraqis each day.
We still have more to achieve in helping provide health care to
Iraqis, but we are making great strides in this important
area."
The improving security situation is paying dividends, as the GRD
Gulf Region Division and its contractors complete more and more
construction projects. Dr. Eman A. Atta, Karkh's manager and
hospital administrator, worked at Karkh Maternity for only six
months, but has seen Baghdad and the neighborhood around the
hospital improve dramatically.
"The security situation has improved greatly," Atta said. "It
was very, very bad here for so long -- so bad that I refused
delivery of vital medical equipment until it was safe from those
who would rob and steal from the hospital."
Atta was painfully aware of the poor security situation after
one large delivery of expensive diagnostic equipment that included
X-ray machines and other high-end medical equipment was hijacked --
"stolen before it ever made it to the hospital," she said with
anger and frustration in her voice.
"To keep this from happening again, Dr. Emad Sabry and I
arranged to store the equipment in various secret locations around
Baghdad until security improved," she said.
Iraqi army Maj. Hussain is in charge of security at and around
the hospital, and echoed Atta's reflection of security in the
neighborhood.
"It has gotten better; it is much safer here. My soldiers are
always watching for any danger that would come to the hospital and
its patients," he said.
"We hope to open the hospital to inpatient care, surgeries and
deliveries within two months," said Sabry, an anesthesiologist and
one of Karkh's 10 senior physicians. "The hospital still needs
additional equipment --- all types from beds to incubators and most
importantly the pharmaceuticals. The Ministry of Health has
promised to provide these required items."
Army Sgt. 1st Class Hector Cruz, a construction representative
from the GRD Central District, makes final checks on numerous
hospital construction initiatives recently completed. He stays busy
helping to manage scores of projects, and is frequently on
construction sites four or five days each week.
"We rely heavily on our Iraqi engineers who are on project sites
every day," he said. "They work directly with the contractors and
provide our office with regular reports, photos and updates on
project progress. We just couldn't do the job without them."
To minimize interruptions of essential hospital activities, the
local Iraqi construction firm coordinated all construction work
with the hospital and Atta.
Besides the HVAC and electrical upgrades, the renovation
structural repairs, a reverse-osmosis water purification system, a
new medical waste incinerator, a medical gases center, a nurse call
system, a data communication network, a TV system, elevator
upgrade, and a fire alarm with a firefighting extinguishing
system.
"The new medical gases center is much improved over the old
Iraqi way," Sabry said. "This is much more modern, efficient and
safer, too. The old way had oxygen tanks in each of the rooms.
Hospital staff had to frequently move and handle the tanks - very
inefficient and more dangerous."
Cruz said the renovated facility is a vast improvement over the
old one. "Previously, this was a facility in disrepair after years
and years of neglect," he said. "But now, Karkh's patients will be
able to come to the hospital and have their babies in a clean,
secure functioning hospital. Dr. Atta and her staff will have the
tools to provide full-spectrum medical care for women from a
population of more than 250,000."
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