KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Engineers from the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team performed a quality assurance, quality control check at a midwifery and a medical facility project collocated in Kandahar City July 7.
The Medical storage facility will be divided into two parts: a dry storage and a cold storage facility. The cold facility will used to store perishable medical supplies, like immunizations, that must be kept cold. The dry storage unit will house all other medical supplies that do not need to be kept at a certain temperature.
“These units will help enhance the medical distribution process in Afghanistan,” said U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Jerry Foster, a Kandahar PRT engineer from Gulfport, Miss. “It will allow a centralized location for all the medical supplies to be housed as well as keep things organized in order to be distributed.”
The Afghan construction workers are using three two cubic meter cement mixers to produce the cement needed for this project. They use a lift system to transport the cement from the trucks to the roof where it will be used. The project is about 50% complete.
“Our cement has come a long way since the time we started this project,” said Dr. Horan, the project manager on site. “It is of much stronger quality and we [can] also pack the bricks into it, unlike before.”
“This project has the potential to do a lot of good for the health care in Kandahar province,” said Foster. “All they need to do is manage it properly and keep it up and running.”
The nursing and midwifery institute is composed of a two-story male dormitory, a two-story female dormitory, a two-story classroom building, a dining facility, and two single story administration buildings as well as a mosque and a recreation field.
“This is the first complete midwifery in Kandahar,” said Foster. “Not only will they be teaching and performing midwife services here, but it will be large enough to accommodate all the expectant mothers of Kandahar City.”
Currently, nurses and midwives are trained at a nearby hospital, but this facility will increase the school’s training capacity.
“With the opening of this facility,” said Foster. “It will also help free up some much needed space at the Mirwais Hospital for patients.”
The new midwifery and nursing facility will be able to produce qualified nurses and midwives to reduce infant mortality.
“Having more experienced and trained nurses and midwives will increase the survival rate of women during and after childbirth, as well as increase the life expectancy of children,” said Foster. “Potentially, the overall healthcare rate can rise very rapidly in Kandahar and other surrounding provinces.”
The Kandahar PRT works with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan at the district and provincial levels to build the infrastructure capacity needed to improve the lives of citizens in Kandahar City and the entire province.
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.08.2011 06:41 |
| Story ID: | 73432 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR, AF |
| Web Views: | 338 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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