QRCS boosts maternity care services in Iraq’s Kurdistan

QRCS

Dr Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, director of Relief and International Development Division at Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), inaugurated the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Teaching Maternity Hospital in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, under a project to support health care for pregnant and breastfeeding women, at a total cost of $343,000.

The opening ceremony was attended by Acting Consul General of Qatar in Iraqi Kurdistan HE Meshaal Abdullah Al Hajri, Erbil Governor Omed Khoshnaw, representative of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) Hawri Ehsan, General Director of Health in Erbil Dr Dlovan Mohamed Fatih and several local officials.

The ICU rehabilitation and equipment project is a major intervention to meet the needs of beneficiaries, reduce their suffering, improve the services provided for them, and address the issue of having to refer critical cases to other hospitals, due to lack of ICU services at the hospital, which caused more difficulty for the patients.

With the provision of high-tech ICU equipment up to the standards of Iraq’s Ministry of Health (MOH), the hospital now qualifies for the Arab Board or any other medical facility certification that helps to improve the hospital’s efficiency and rating. It will also be able to serve more beneficiaries, currently receiving as many as 6,700 patients per month.

In addition, there will be training courses by the suppliers and Dr Bahaa Al-Din Jumaa, Paediatric Critical Care Consultant at HMC and member of the medical convoy delegation, for the hospital’s medical personnel to better use the equipment, thus ensuring sustainability of the ICU department to continue to serve the patients.