Building Better Healthcare

摘要

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Gulf Region North (GRN), reconstruction project costing $289,894 is just the prescription needed to improve medical care in Ani Sifni, Iraq. Under USACE, GRN oversight, several new buildings, including a pharmacy, doctors' residence and lobby, as well as a large wing with ward rooms and specialized doctors' offices, will increase the size of the Al Shekhan General Hospital by 984-sq-m, According to a hospital administrator, the 50-bed facility sees on average 5,000 patients each month, most on an outpatient basis. These improvements will greatly increase the hospital's capability, and hospital administrators hope to attract additional physicians as a result of the enhancements. The hospital opened as a clinic in 1978 and was upgraded to hospital status in the mid-1990s. It currently features four wards: surgical, pediatric, general medicine and obstetrics. The main structure addition will allow all of these wards to be expanded and add new wards as well. One of the new, free-standing buildings will become a pharmacy; the other will be a new residence for on-duty physicians. The current physicians' residence will continue to house male physicians, while the new residence building will house female physicians.