2007 Press Releases
Multinational Effort Brings State of the Art Medical Training to Iraq
(PRT project is example of cooperation at all levels)
December 4, 2007
By Jon Dorschner
Special Correspondent
Dhi Qar, Iraq - Months of combined effort culminated November 26 in the successful delivery of a multi-million dollar Mobile Surgical Unit (MSU) to Dhi Qar Province donated by the people of Italy highlighting the multinational cooperation underlying reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
The project, worth $2.3 million, was planned and organized by the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) operating in Dhi Qar led by Italian Dr. Anna Prouse. A former journalist who directed the Italian Red Cross Field Hospital in Baghdad in 2003 Prouse was the Italian advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Heath from 2003 to 2006.
The PRT program was started as a U.S. Government-funded program in 2005 to help rebuild Iraq. Now 28 PRTs operate in all 18 of Iraq’s provinces staffed by volunteers from the U.S. Departments of State, Justice, Agriculture and U.S. Agency for International Development. Three of the teams are lead by Korean, British and Italian development experts.
The Italian-donated MSU, housed in a semi-trailer pulled by an American-built truck, contains a state of the art fully-equipped operating theatre, as well as areas for patient prep, post-op recovery and storage. It will be based in the PRT-sponsored training center currently being built just outside the province capital of Nassiriyah. Once installed, teams of international medical experts will use the MSU to upgrade the skills of Iraqi doctors, nurses and technicians by working with them to perform operations on local patients.
In the months to come, hundreds of Iraqi medical professionals will receive valuable training in the MSU and have the opportunity to work side by side with their fellow doctors, nurses and medical technicians from around the world.
Getting the MSU from its arrival point in Kuwait to Dhi Qar was a complex job requiring the cooperation of nationals from Italy, Kuwait, Great Britain, Australia, the US and Iraq. Everyone involved in the project worked together to ensure that this precious gift reached Dhi Qar safely.
In Kuwait PRT members met with customs officials to make sure that all the necessary paperwork was complete and in order. On 26 November the truck was driven to Dhi Qar. Other PRT members followed behind in a taxi. Kuwaiti customs officers had gone out of their way to facilitate a smooth passage of the vehicle through Kuwait and on to Iraq.
The Dhi Qar provincial government, working closely with the PRT since the inception of the project, dispatched a special team of the Dhi Qar Tactical Security Unit (TSU) under the command of Colonel Abu Luqa to provide security. They drove from Nassiriyah early in the morning and waited patiently at the Iraq/Kuwaiti border for several hours for the MSU to arrive. Iraqi customs officials were fully informed and worked with Colonel Luqa to clear the vehicle for entry into Iraq within five minutes.
The TSU security team, consisting of four armed pick-up trucks and 30 police officers, escorted the MSU from the border to Tallil. The Iraqi Army and police manned several checkpoints along the route and with TSU assistance the vehicle was cleared instantly, and sent on its way.
The road was in excellent condition and the MSU was safely at the gate to Tallil Air Base, where it was met by American troops from the local garrison who quickly cleared it onto the base. It is now parked beside the base hospital, where it will remain safe and secure until the training center is completed and it can be installed in its permanent location.
Thanks to this project hundreds of Iraqi patients will receive much-needed operations and Iraqi medical personnel will be exposed to the latest developments in the medical profession without having to undertake expensive travel to foreign countries. International medical teams will also benefit from the opportunity to work side by side with their Iraqi colleagues.
This will all take place because dedicated individuals from six countries worked together to make it happen.
(Jon Dorschner is a Foreign Service Officer responsible for public affairs reporting for the Dhi Qar PRT. With a PhD in South Asian Studies he previously was seconded to the United States Military Academy as a Professor of International Relations.)