IRBIL – With the official opening of the state-of-the-art Irbil Emergency Hospital here, July 7, a new era in emergency medical care began in this Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

The new emergency hospital is the primary access point for caring for emergency patients in the area. The only other existing facility’s dilapidated state has caused major disruptions in service and represents a threat to public health, according to local health officials.

Barham Salih, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, says the hospital further demonstrates the lasting friendship and spirit of cooperation between the Kurdish people and the United States.

“This project goes beyond the immediate issue of health care and the immediate issue of humanitarian assistance and goes to the heart of our relationship with the United States,” he said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers formed a partnership with a unique group of people during the design process of the $12.6 million facility: emergency room doctors. The USACE Irbil Resident Engineer Design Team received preconstruction input from the doctors to help design the medical facility to care strictly for trauma patients.

According to Lt. Col. Rich Pratt, deputy commander of the USACE Gulf Region District, the partnerships between the Corps, hospital staff and the Ministry of Health in Irbil helped to ensure that the end product would meet the user’s needs. Additionally, it helped build trust with the ministry from the inception phase all the way through to the handover of the project.

The new hospital has nine operating rooms, a comprehensive medical laboratory facility and X-ray, CT scan and MRI capabilities. The hospital’s burn unit has the capacity to care for most of the over 45 burn patients the current Irbil hospital emergency rooms treat each month.

Although common for hospitals in the United States, the Irbil hospital is the first in the area to have a helicopter pad on the roof.  The hospital is also equipped with its own electrical generating unit and the water for the hospital will be supplied by an on-site well.

The emergency hospital building encompasses 11,790 square meters and is located on a 24,000 meter site that allows for future expansion. The general contractor was the Turkish owned Tigris Company.

Funding for the hospital is from U.S. Economic Support Funds and includes the purchase of all medical equipment for the facility. This marks the first hospital project for USACE in Irbil.

“In Kurdistan, we are not shy to say thank you to the people of United States for all of the sacrifices they have made for the people of Iraq and Kurdistan,” Salih concluded.  “I hope this project will serve as a fine example.”