By Polli Barnes Keller
Gulf Region North
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The Baquba Maternity hospital, hotel turned maternity hospital, now delivers babies instead of room service. Worker’s completed this $700, 000 transformation on January 4, 2005 while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provided quality assurance on the project. The photo above was taken previous to the renovation process in mid January 2004. Due to the high threat level in the area, recent photos of the facility are not available. (GRD photo)

Mosul Iraq- Baquba Maternity hospital, a hotel-turned-maternity-hospital, now delivers babies instead of room service. The facility houses 229 beds and serves a local population of approximately 350,000. Workers completed the $700,000 transformation in Diyala Province on January 4, 2006.

After the Iraqi government requested a change to the building’s function, a local construction company conducted the renovations. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) provided quality assurance and over-watch for the project. The modernization included repairs to the wastewater treatment plant, incinerator, and elevators in the hospital. Workers installed a new water purification system, as well.

“This facility was originally designed and built as a hotel and was converted to a maternity hospital in the 1980s. The overall layout and utilities of the facility were constructed to function as a hotel. This included the elevators, sewage treatment facility, water supply, and the internal layout of the building,” said Basim Hussain, USACE Project Contracting Office Project Manager for Building, Health and Education, when asked the most interesting aspect of this project.

“The scope to renovate this facility included bringing the elevators back to sound operating condition, installing a state-of-the-art medical waste incinerator, an overhaul and upgrade of the sewage treatment capability to properly address medical wastewater and provide for a better potable water quality,” said Hussain. “The objective was to reduce sources of infection which is the number one battle in any health facility.”

The hospital remained functional throughout the repair process as officials coordinated all construction and renovations with hospital staff to minimize disruptions to hospital operations.

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Note: Polli Barnes Keller is the Deputy Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region North. Requests for more information should be directed to Polli at (540) 542-1437. Email requests can be sent to Polli.M.Keller@tac01.usace.army.mil. For more information on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq, visit www.grd.usace.army.mil.