The opening of East Erbil Emergency Hospital in Erbil Governorate, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, on 24 November 2020 WHO Iraq Erbil, Iraq, 24 November 2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO), in partnership with the Ministry of Health in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, today celebrated the completion of renovation works at East Erbil Emergency Hospital in Erbil Governorate.

The hospital is currently functioning as the main facility providing life-saving emergency services to a population of approximately 1 million people, including refugees and internally displaced people, while other health facilities have been dedicated to managing COVID-19 patients.

“WHO Iraq has built a fruitful partnership with the health authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, reflected in the construction and rehabilitation of health facilities in the Region,” said Dr Adham Ismail, WHO Representative and Head of Mission in Iraq.

“The project that we are jointly inaugurating today for the resumption of full capacity functioning in Erbil will support a large segment of the in-need population for essential and specialized health care services. We also believe the facility will go a long way to filling the gap created by the designation of the majority of health facilities in the Region to COVID-19 treatment,” Dr Ismail added.

As in the rest of the world, the emergence of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has overwhelmed the health system in Iraq in general and in the Kurdistan Region in particular, which is already coping with the presence of hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people. This, coupled with a growing need for advanced health care services, has necessitated a massive mobilization effort and the securing of resources to improve the existing health facilities, both functionally and structurally.

The hospital restoration project, supported by WHO with funds from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, was initiated to rehabilitate selected departments in the facility according to international standards and in line with the approved medical protocols to provide the best quality services.

The hospital’s in-patient wards and intensive care units have now been refurbished and 57 horizontal bed head units, complete with the necessary furnishing, equipment and accessories, such as an oxygen system pipeline, medical gas and a suction system, have been installed to upgrade its capacity to accommodate around 1000 outpatients and 60 in-patient cases daily.

WHO would like to thank the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration for their contribution for the renovation and to Heevi, the local implementing partner, for carrying out the restoration works.

For more information, please contact:

- Ajyal Sultany, WHO Communications Officer, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +964 7740 892 878

- Pauline Ajello, WHO Communications Officer, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +964 7729 877 288

- Mohamed Qadir Khoshnaw, WHO Communications Officer, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; +964 7740 892 797