Airmen equip Afghan hospital with supplies, knowledge

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Julie Weckerlein
  • U.S. Central Command Air Forces Public Affairs
HERO CAMP, Afghanistan (AFPN) --  Despite equipment shortages, delivery delays and increased violence around Kandahar, several Airmen and Soldiers continue to work side-by-side with Afghans, putting the final touches on an Afghan National Army hospital that soon will provide state-of-the-art care to warriors injured in the field.

Located on an ANA installation near Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan, the $6.5 million, level-four 50 bed (with 50 bed expansion starting soon) hospital is equipped and financed by American and coalition funds, and will offer a full range of services, from a pharmacy, outpatient clinic, dentistry, optometry, emergency and operating rooms to radiology and physical therapy. Afghan soldiers from E-8 and up will be able to bring their families in for treatment, too. Afghan women also will be treated and seen in separate facilities at the hospital.

"A lot of the equipment and supplies we're putting in here will put the Afghans 20 years ahead of where they are right now," said Tech. Sgt. Curtis Miller, a medical logistics technician deployed here from Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. "Everything we're putting into this hospital is what you would see in a hospital in the states."

Medical personnel from the ANA 205th Corps will man the hospital, while the ANA ministry of defense warehouse next door, which is funded by American and coalition funds, contains all the supplies the hospital will need to begin operations in mid-October.

"We are responsible for the distribution of supplies around this area," said ANA Maj. Abdul Ghafar, 205th Hero Corps warehouse commander, through a translator. "We have to put our focus on supplying the hospital and the other ANA medical clinics in the region. I think we are going to be very busy here, so that is very important."

The hospital was the first of five to be built for the ANA; however, it is the last to be completed. It's nine months behind schedule, but given Kandahar's location, that's to be expected. Violent attacks are common along the Pakistan border, which is 45 minutes to the east, as well as in the provinces north and west of Kandahar.

"The biggest challenge we face here is the simple logistics of moving supplies," said Capt. Jay Snodgrass, 205th Hero Corps medical supply officer and mentor. "It's expensive to fly things in, so they try to get items in by convoy and or Afghan civilian trucking services. Yet our trucks get shot at all the time, and there's the constant threat of (improvised explosive devices) on the roads. For that reason, there are delays in getting the supplies where they need to be."

When the supplies do arrive,  Americans, ANA and contracted workers get to work, assembling equipment and arranging it throughout the hospital. There is a constant flow of activity, said Army Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Rivas, medical logistics technician deployed from Ft. Sam Houston, Texas.

"There was a time when a truck came in loaded with equipment and there were just the few of us Americans there to unload it," he said. "We went to go ask for help, but within minutes the ANA just started showing up. We didn't have to ask, they were just there, ready to work. They want this hospital built just as bad as we do."

Captain Snodgrass said there is good reason for hospital anticipation.

"This state-of-the-art facility is an excellent recruiting tool for the ANA and Afghan National Police and border patrols," said Captain Snodgrass, who is deployed from Moody Air Force Base, Ga. "We are working very hard to ensure both the ANA and the ANP will be able to receive world-class medical care, something they can't get so easily right now."

He said the hospital is scheduled to open in mid-October. With violence escalating throughout the southern region, the ANA are taking a lot of causalities in the field. At the moment, the only treatment available is from field clinics, he said.

"This facility will save lives," he said. "That's the important thing."

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