WATCH: Germany completes construction of Peshmerga Hospital, hands to Kurdistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – As part of its support to the Kurdistan Region, Germany completed the construction of Peshmerga Hospital and officially handed it over to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Thursday.

The total cost of the hospital stands at about $5 million, and the completion took 16 months. Various Kurdish officials and the US-led coalition commanders attended the ceremony.

The hospital, which is located in the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region, Erbil, will officially be open to Peshmerga fighters on April 24, Eza Nawzad, the Director of Peshmerga Hospital, told Kurdistan 24. 

The Kurdish Peshmerga have been one of the most efficient ground troops in helping defeat the Islamic State over the past few years. About 2,000 Peshmerga fighters have been killed while fighting the jihadist group, and over 10,000 more wounded, according to the Peshmerga Ministry.

Since 2014, the lack of advanced and necessary medical equipment in the Kurdistan Region has led to more than 100 severely injured Peshmerga fighters being sent abroad to receive proper treatment.

The hospital will be staffed by local nurses and doctors under the supervision of the German government, Rebin Zekhani, the deputy director of medical affairs for the Peshmerga forces, told Kurdistan 24.

The hospital is a part of a project intending to build a larger medical center, which would surround the hospital.

Germany is a member of the US-led coalition which has provided humanitarian, logistics, and military support to the Kurdistan Region over the past few years.

“Our ongoing mission now in the Kurdistan Region is advising and training Peshmerga forces,” Colonel M. Schneider, Commander of German Forces in Iraq, told Kurdistan 24 during the ceremony.

“The fight against the Islamic State [in Iraq] is not over, and their threats continue to persist in the country,” he added.

Editing by Nadia Riva

(Additional reporting by Hoshmand Sadiq)