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LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan (May 14, 2015) – The 201st Afghan National Army Corps hosted a ceremony marking the opening of the Gamberi Regional Medical Hospital at Tactical Base Gamberi May 11, 2015.
Leaders and advisers from Train, Advise, Assist Command – East attended the ceremony, as well as leaders from the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, the hospital staff, and members of the Afghan media. Those in attendance included Brig. Gen. Christopher Bentley, the TAAC-E Commander; Col. J.B. Vowell, the TAAC-E Deputy Commander; Command Sgt. Maj. Walter Tagalicud, the TAAC-E Command Sergeant Major; Maj. Gen. Dr. Abdul Razzaq Saiwash, the ANA Surgeon General; Maj. Gen. Mohammad Zaman Waziri, the 201st Corps Commander; and Brig. Gen. Gulabshah Shirzad, the GRMH Commander.
The newly-opened hospital is collocated with the 201st Corps headquarters and is capable of providing ANDSF with specialty care surgery and medical care in eastern Afghanistan. The facility includes 100 beds, an emergency room, helicopter landing zone, two operating rooms, two intensive care units, a laboratory, pharmacy, dental facilities, optometrist care, outpatient clinic, and an OBGYN.
“This hospital is important because there is no other regional hospital for the ANDSF in the east,” said Maj. Leonard Leo, the lead medical adviser and surgeon for TAAC-E. Leo added that the military hospital will provide regional care for ANDSF personnel and their families, and will reduce ANDSF reliance on civilian hospitals.
Prior to the GRMH, injured Afghan soldiers and police officers were taken to civilian hospitals in the region.
“We would take injured soldiers in Nuristan to Kunar, then Nangarhar, and if critical to Kabul for treatment, but now this problem has been resolved,” Waziri said, adding, “This hospital is not only for military personnel, it will also serve intelligence forces, police and all security personnel.”
“All sections of the hospital are ready to function,” Saiwash said. “Its administrative affairs are 80 percent complete and the staff will be complete in a month’s time. The hospital is ready for all kinds of surgical operations.”
Saiwash said the military hospital is also capable of providing treatment to civilians in some circumstances. He said civilians injured during security operations, major traffic accidents, and other serious events will be treated in the military hospital, though not people suffering from common illnesses or diseases.
Construction of the hospital began in 2013 through the combined efforts of NATO and the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan. In 2014, ANDSF began to occupy the building and oversee the development of the hospital, and in the last eight months TAAC-E advisers under NATO’s Resolute Support Mission provided the advice and assistance necessary to prepare the hospital for opening.
There are a total of five military hospitals like the GRMH in Afghanistan, each hospital providing service for a specific region. The GRMH provides service for ANDSF in the eastern provinces of the country.
The hospital opening is considered a notable achievement for the ANDSF and TAAC-E advisers under Resolute Support. Now that the hospital is open, TAAC-E medical advisers will continue working with the doctors and staff to help the hospital increase operations in the coming months.
“We thank the U.S. and NATO for assisting in the project,” Waziri said in his closing remarks.
| Date Taken: | 05.11.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 05.14.2015 10:58 |
| Story ID: | 163297 |
| Location: | AF |
| Hometown: | FORT CAMPBELL, KY, US |
| Hometown: | FORT CAMPBELL, TN, US |
| Hometown: | FORT STEWART, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 132 |
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