Siemens, Lions and their partners inaugurate the rehabilitated health clinic in Baiji, Iraq
- Al-Tawheed Center in Salah ad-Din Province was renovated by Iraq’s Ministry of Health
- Siemens donated advanced medical and power equipment to NGO Lions Foundation Germany to support the rehabilitation of the clinic
- Clinic is open to the public and has the capacity to treat up to 15,000 patients a year
As the world continues to grapple with a global pandemic, Siemens and Siemens Healthineers, the Iraqi Ministry of Health, the Office of the Governor and the Directorate of Health in Salah ad-Din Province, and the German NGO Stiftung der Deutschen Lions (Lions Foundation Germany) inaugurated the reopening of a health clinic in Baiji, Iraq.
Iraq’s Ministry of Health has repaired Al-Tawheed Center, which was damaged by Islamic State militants, and the clinic is fully renovated and equipped to provide much-needed medical care to residents of the province, approximately 200km north of Baghdad.
Siemens donated equipment including a digital x-ray, a dental treatment center, state-of-the-art laboratory equipment including a hematology blood analyzer, a power transformer and other devices to Lions Foundation Germany, which carried out the rehabilitation in cooperation with Lions Club Amman Philadelphia of Jordan. The center started accepting patients earlier this year and has the capacity to treat about 15,000 people a year.
Musab Alkateeb, CEO, Siemens in Iraq:
“Siemens has a long relationship with the city of Baiji and its people, and this clinic is a testament to our focus on delivering, together with our Iraqi and international partners, significant improvements to the country’s critical infrastructure, from reliable electric power to high-quality healthcare.”
After the arrival and installation of the donated equipment at PHC Baiji last year, Siemens provided training to clinic staff to use the state-of-the-art medical equipment and supporting systems. Lions will monitor usage over the next three years.
Dr. Wolf-Rüdiger Reinicke, Past Council Chair of Lions Germany, said:
“This health clinic demonstrates our commitment to the Iraqi people, and we are proud of our partnership with the Lions from Amman Philadelphia, Iraq’s Ministry of Health and Siemens that helped return this important facility to the community. We were encouraged that the smart clinic was completed on schedule, and we are devoted to our role in helping it run smoothly and providing the best services possible to all residents in the area.”
Siemens has been working in Baiji for almost 20 years, since the company delivered power generation turbines that helped run the country’s biggest refinery, a concrete plant and thousands of homes in the province.
That power plant was also damaged, and in September, Siemens and Orascom Construction signed an agreement with Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity to rebuild Baiji 1 and Baiji 2 plants in northern Iraq.
The facilities will have a combined generation capacity of 1.6 gigawatts when completed and are a major step in Siemens roadmap for rebuilding Iraq’s power sector that has already added more than 700 megawatts to Iraq’s grid.
(Source: Siemens)