Press Release: A New Emergency Room for Al-Salam Hospital in East Mosul

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Mosul, December 18 2018

The humanitarian medical organisation Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) completed the construction of a new Emergency Room (ER) in the Al ‘Salam and Al’ Shifa Hospital complex in east Mosul. MSF has been working in collaboration with the Directorate of Health in Ninewa governorate to provide Al ‘Salam Hospital with a fully-equipped and functional ER. This will increase the capacity of the health facility and improve access to high-quality emergency care for the population of East Mosul.

The Emergency Room includes two emergency wards for a total of 11beds, a trauma room, a pharmacy two consultation rooms, a triage area and a facilitated connection with the operational theatre, and it’s currently receiving patients 24 hours per day. MSF will assist further by providing medical trainings and drugs donations. The organization’s teams will also support the Al ‘Salam medical staff in managing emergency cases.

“The construction of this ER was extremely important for the population of East Mosul. Al ‘Salam hospital used to be the biggest hospital in the area before it was completely destroyed in 2017, reducing dramatically the availability and access to health-care for this population” explains Kyi Htet Aung, MSF project medical referent.

Before its destruction, Al ‘Salam Hospital had a capacity of four hundred beds and it was the main secondary health care facility in East Mosul. Now relocated into the Al’ Shifa hospital complex, Al ‘Salam Hospital has a capacity of two hundred beds.

• Emergency Room - Al-Salam Hospital Emergency Room - Al-Salam Hospital
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• Emergency Room - Al-Salam Hospital - Mosul Emergency Room - Al-Salam Hospital - Mosul
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“The opening of the new ER in Al ‘Salam Hospital is for us another important step to contribute to the rebuilding of the health care system in Mosul, profoundly damaged by the conflict. Nine hospitals have been completely destroyed during the fighting in Mosul and now there are less than 1,600 beds available for an estimated population of 1.7 million people” says Marco Doneda, MSF project coordinator.

MSF has been worked in and around Mosul since 2017 to provide lifesaving services for people caught in the violence. The organisation ran several trauma stabilisation posts in East and West Mosul, and managed four projects in hospitals offering a range of services including emergency and intensive care, surgery and maternal healthcare. In April 2018, MSF opened a comprehensive post-operative care facility in East Mosul, to provide services for people injured by violent or accidental trauma

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Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been working in Iraq since 1991. With more than 1,500 staff in Iraq, MSF provides free, quality healthcare for all people regardless of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.

MSF delivers primary and secondary healthcare, services for expectant and new mothers, treatment for chronic diseases, surgery and rehabilitation for war-wounded, mental health support and health education activities. The organisation currently works in the governorates of Erbil, Diyala, Ninewa, Kirkuk, Anbar and Baghdad.

MSF is an independent medical humanitarian movement that aims to deliver emergency medical care where it is needed most, and when it will save lives. MSF works in nearly 70 countries around the world.
MSF offers neutral and impartial medical assistance regardless of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. To ensure its independence, MSF does not accept funding from any government or international agency for its programs in Iraq, relying solely on private donations around the world to carry out its work.