Air Force medics take control of combat hospital

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jason Lake
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  Troops with emergency medical needs will now visit the Air Force Theater Hospital while deployed to Iraq.

Central Command Air Forces officials announced that Sept. 20, Air Force medics took control of the base hospital, formerly known as the 31st Combat Support Hospital.

The decision to transfer control to the Air Force came earlier this year during a joint staff medical planner’s conference in Washington, said Master Sgt. Don Buford, CENTAF’s noncommissioned officer in charge of medical operations

The transfer, which is similar to another operation in Kuwait involving Navy medics, should reduce the workload on the Army medics.

Medics from the 59th Medical Wing at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, are the largest group of Airmen to take part in the swapout, Sergeant Buford said.

CENTAF medical officials have been taking inventory of medical equipment and preparing for the transfer between the Army and Air Force medical staff.

Air Force medics deploying in will rotate into the former Army positions, Sergeant Buford said. Once in place, the Air Force medics observed their Army counterparts for a couple weeks before the transfer.

Besides a name change, the Air Force Theater Hospital also adds a few services.

“The hospital will have a new operating room to perform neurological, eye and maxillofacial surgical services that were traditionally done in Baghdad,” said Maj. Jerome Wizda, CENTAF’s chief of medical operations. “The Air Force Theater Hospital will basically become the surgical trauma hub for Iraq.”

The hospital manpower will expand from about 80 people currently to nearly 300 by the time the changeover is complete, CENTAF officials said.

However, Major Wizda said Air Force medics will not be the only military branch to staff the expanded hospital. About 30 Army medics will remain while another 20 Australian medics will work at the hospital after the transition.