By Farhad Dollamary ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Erbil will soon get a brand new specialist hospital to treat Peshmerga forces thanks to German financial assistance. The $4.8 million ‘Peshmerga Hospital’ – a 20-bed facility built on a 1,000-square-meter plot of land – is expected to be complete by the end of the year. More than 10,000 Peshmerga were wounded during the four-year war with ISIS. One man who could benefit from the new facility is Pshtiwan Abdulkarim, a Peshmerga injured in an operation to retake the villages of Makhmour. He has already undergone 14 surgeries, but doctors say there are still 180 pieces of shrapnel in his body. Nerve damage means his entire left side does not function normally. The specialist treatment he needs can only be accessed abroad. “I’ve been a Peshmerga for 23 years. I defended Kurdistan’s land. I want nothing but the treatment. I need advanced surgery abroad, you understand? No one takes care of us,” said Abdulkarim. Eight foreign countries stepped in to provide free medical treatment to 237 wounded Peshmerga. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s Ministry of Peshmerga treated 526. “Most of these 10,000 Peshmerga were slightly injured and received treatment in public hospitals and others in private hospitals in Kurdistan,” said Dr Rebin Shekhani, a Peshmerga Ministry official. “Some others need treatment abroad. Up to now, 772 injured men from the ISIS war have received treatment abroad. One hundred and fifty others need advanced treatment abroad, but we couldn’t send them abroad because of the financial crisis.” Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s defence minister, inaugurated the first phase of the Peshmerga hospital earlier this month.
