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Erbil Hospital in Kurdistan is one of the
best in the area
1.5.2007 |
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Iraqi
Hospital Struggles to Maintain US-Funded
Improvements
May 1, 2007
American inspectors who review reconstruction
projects in Iraq say some rebuilt facilities are
falling into disrepair because they are not being
properly maintained.
A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq
Reconstruction, says of eight projects initially
declared successes, seven are in jeopardy of falling
short of their goals.
VOA's Barry Newhouse visited a hospital in Erbil,
the capital of Kurdistan region (Iraq) that is one
of the projects inspectors said is at risk.
Pregnant women and their families crowd the halls of
the Erbil Maternity Teaching hospital. This 300-bed
facility in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region is one
of the best in the area, and many patients travel
hours from the violent cities of Kirkuk and Mosul to
receive care. On a busy day, as many as 80 babies
are born here.
The U.S. government paid a contractor $6 million
800,000 in 2005 and 2006 to modernize the facility.
Contractors installed new floors and plumbing,
set-up new boilers and air conditioning units, and
added some modern hospital equipment like an
incinerator and an oxygen delivery system.
Stuart W. Bowen, Jr. is the special inspector
general for Iraq Reconstruction.
"We visited the Erbil maternity hospital up in
Kurdistan this quarter," he said. "It was something
we reported on previously as a project that was well
constructed. This was a sustainment review to see if
the Iraqis are using the facility properly. The
answer is, no."
One year after the contractors left and the hospital
staff took over, inspectors say some of the
expensive improvements are failing, but hospital
workers insist it is not their fault.
"This is a new boiler," he said. "It is not working.
It is the thermostat."
Hospital engineer Khaldoon Thasin stands in front of
one of the hospital's new boilers that is charred
with black soot. It and another boiler are missing a
thermostat and he says he does not know how to fix
it or where to buy a new one.
Hospital Director Dr. Sabriya Hamadameen says when
contractors turned over the new equipment to the
hospital they only told workers how to operate the
equipment. She says they did not explain how to
maintain it.
"We have the problem about the spare parts and the
training," she said. "Our engineers they have no
training about the new boiler and chiller [air
conditioning] which they supplied to this hospital."
U.S. inspectors found similar maintenance problems
throughout the facility in January.
Inspectors said workers did not know how to operate
the incinerator and dumped medical waste into the
new sewage system, causing backups.
Dr. Hamadameen says workers now properly use the
incinerator. But she said they still have
difficulties with some of the sophisticated new
equipment, such as the oxygen system.
Huge new compressors pump oxygen throughout the
hospital, but the system's automatic settings have
begun to malfunction.
Unless someone regularly checks the tanks to ensure
they are correctly pressurized, Dr. Hamadameen says
doctors cannot be sure their patients are receiving
enough oxygen.
"If there is a patient that is taking anesthesia in
the operating room, maybe if they do not check every
20 minutes maybe the patient will pass [die] when
the oxygen becomes low," he said.
Workers pry open a shed housing an unused water
purification system.
NEWHOUSE: "Can you explain how this works?"
TAHSIN: "No, no I do not know how it is working. [I]
Only [know how] to start it."
U.S. inspectors recommended American officials work
with the Iraqi government to train hospital workers
on how to properly use and maintain the new
equipment.
But in response, U.S. embassy officials in Baghdad
rejected such a move, saying that once the facility
was turned over to the Iraqis, American contractors
had no obligation to train the hospital staff.
voa news
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