Diwaniyah Celebrates Grand Opening of New Primary Healthcare Center

DIWANIYAH | January 3, 2010

PRT Team Leader with Diwaniyah Governor

The Diwaniyah Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) held a grand opening of a USD 450,000 Primary Healthcare Center located in al Noor village near Sumer, Qadisiyah Province.

According to Capt. Robert Elliott, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Officer in Charge of the Qadisiyah/Najaf Resident office, the facility's location was chosen in coordination with Iraqi government authorities to address the lack of medical services in the area. "It is estimated that the 3,552-sq.-ft., state-of-the-art healthcare center will service the immediate healthcare needs of some 10,000 Iraqis living in the al Noor village of the al Sumer neighborhood, "

The clinic will provide basic medical care and advanced diagnostic and monitoring capabilities for acute and chronic illnesses. "This new clinic, a gift from the American people for a healthy Iraqi people, will add modern treatments for pregnant women, a place for emergency care, vaccinations, and a place for diagnosing disease," said PRT Public Health Advisor Samuel Watson.

The new facility includes a physician's office with an adjoining exam room, two nurse stations, a pharmacy, a mother and childcare treatment room, vaccination room and health education department.

During the ceremony Qadisiyah Province's Governor Salim Hussein Alwan Najam praised the U.S. Government's efforts to help the people of his province and expressed his thankfulness for the new facility. Diwaniyah PRT Leader Michael Klecheski added that nine health facilities worth $9.6 million had been built for the Qadisiyah Province, and described the al-Noor PHC as a symbol of the cooperation between the U.S. and Iraqi governments to help the people of the province.

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