Army helping Sadr City expand medical facilities
By Norris Jones
September 1, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Sept. 1, 2005) -- More has been invested for health care in Sadr City this past year than over 15 years under Saddam Hussein.
In fact, it was 1986 when Iraq’s last new hospital was built.
In Sadr City, a relatively poor area of Baghdad, the Al Baladi Maternity and Children’s Hospital opened in 1983. Last July, workers began renovating and upgrading that facility under a $17.2 million contract. In addition, six new primary healthcare centers are under construction at a cost of $3.7 million.
Al Baladi hospital was originally designed as a two-story facility with 260 beds. It has been expanded to accommodate 100 more beds and serves an average of 500 to 700 maternity, pediatric, and blood disorder patients daily.
“Prior to the hospital refurbishment getting underway, patients there had to tolerate 100-degees-fahrenheit temperatures because of non-functioning air handling systems. The newborns (about 30 babies are born there daily) and the elderly are two groups who have little tolerance for such extreme heat,” said Robert Helmerick, Sadr City medical facilities project engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Central District.
“Today those interior temperatures are at 75 degress fahrenheit (24oC) and the infant mortality rate at the hospital is declining.”
Among the major items the contractor has already completed is rehabilitating the hospital’s four elevators, putting on an entire new roof, building a new incinerator for the biohazard waste, and installing a reverse osmosis purification plant capable of producing 6,400 gallons of clean water daily, said Helmerick.
“All repair work is coordinated with the Iraq Ministry of Health, the hospital administration, and the contractor,” he said.
About 130 Iraqis are on the construction crew. Work there is 40 percent complete and the contractor has a goal of scheduling the commissioning of all refurbishments in February 2006.
The six primary healthcare centers in Sadr City, which are 20 to 40 percent finished, are designed to help ease Al Baladi’s huge outpatient load and should be ready in late fall. Each of those facilities, with an average price tag of $600,000, is a two-story structure which will offer 1,155 square meters of space for medical/dental examinations including X-ray capabilities, testing laboratory, pharmacy, vaccination, and public education.
“This capability will dramatically improve the healthcare available to Sadr City’s 2.5 million residents,” said Capt. Jack Mooney, assistant brigade engineer with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.
“The biggest challenge we faced early on was convincing the contractor he needed larger crews at each site to meet the deadline,” Helmerick said. “Those crews have doubled in size (now somewhere between 20 to 60 Iraqis at each site). Another concern we had was safety – ensuring the workers had the proper safety equipment and training regarding hard hats, shoes, goggles, etc. That’s something we continue to emphasize.”
Apart from the new medical facilities, a number of other infrastructure improvements in Sadr City are also underway:
• $106 million to install new electrical poles, power lines, and transformers in 76 sectors (impacting 1.2 million residents there).
• nearly $60 million on a sewer repair project involving about 39 kilometers (24 miles) of Sadr City sewers.
• $2.3 million for 27 new compact water treatment units, each producing 15,000 liters of clean potable water daily. Ten of these units will use water from wells, 17 from the Sadr City raw water system. The Compact Water Unit at Thawrat Al-Hijara School is the first to be fully operational and clean water from there is being supplied to Sadr City residents. Currently 60 people are employed working on this project.
• $600,000 to renovate three police stations. That work, which has been completed, includes force protection measures of additional security walls, new guard towers, and new gates.
• $902,000 for a new Sadr City Fire Station which will open next spring. The three-story, 925-square-meter structure will feature five bays (three for ladder trucks, two for SUVs). It will include a dormitory area for 20 fire fighters, dining room for 30, commercial grade kitchenette to feed 40 people, a training room for 20, locker room, a control room, and a Chief’s office.
• $279,125 for a trash transfer station with expected completion by the end of December.
• $3.7 million for 28 Sadr City schools (an average of $133,250 each) to upgrade their electricity, lights, heat, water, doors and windows, blackboards, functioning bathrooms, and furniture for both students and faculty.
The projects listed above account for nearly $190 million of infrastructure improvements for Sadr City.
Maj. Paul Ashcraft, 2nd Brigade Combat Team’s eEngineer, 3rd Infantry Division, adds, “We are continuously assessing the essential service needs in Sadr City, specifically the need for more potable water, and have more projects planned for later this year.”
(Editor’s note: Norris Jones is the Public Affairs specialist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Central District.)
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