Australian company chosen to help re-build Mosul’s healthcare system as part of the global humanitarian effort in Iraq

Canberra-based Aspen Medical has been contracted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide healthcare professionals and hospital management at a 48-bed field hospital south of Mosul in northern Iraq.  The field hospital was established by WHO at the urgent request of the Ministry of Health in Iraq.  WHO is coordinating a number of organisations providing trauma care in the conflict zone.

Aspen Medical will initially be providing a team of over 80 personnel to the facility including emergency physicians, surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses, midwives, neonatal specialists, obstetricians and paramedics. In addition to the clinical team, Aspen Medical will be providing management, logistics, security, administration and operations specialists to the field hospital.  The Aspen Medical team will work alongside 48 national health personnel of different cadres already recruited to support trauma care at the hospital. 

Glenn Keys, Co-Executive Chairman and co-founder of Aspen Medical, said, “ISIL completely destroyed the healthcare infrastructure and now the world has an opportunity to help the long-suffering civilians of Mosul.  Working in partnership with other national and international organisations in the region, our collective challenge is to ensure access and availability of a high quality of medical care for those fleeing Western Mosul.”

Dr Andrew Walker, Co-Executive Chairman and co-founder of Aspen Medical, said, “This won’t be a job for the faint-hearted.  We are honoured to be a critical part of this international humanitarian response and we look forward to working closely with WHO and the Ninewa Directorate of Health in Iraq.”

With the commencement of the offensive in Mosul, there is likely to be a significant increase in trauma casualties.  Mosul is a city of about 1.2 million people and casualties have been high.  Nearly half the casualties are civilians and this includes a high proportion of children.

Aspen Medical is no stranger to pulling together challenging healthcare projects at short notice around Australia and the world.  The company was one of the only organisations in the world to be contracted by four separate countries to deliver their Ebola response.  The company was initially engaged to establish and manage four Ebola Treatment Units in Liberia on behalf of the US Government.  Aspen Medical also established and ran the Australian and New Zealand Governments’ Ebola Treatment Centre in Sierra Leone from mid-December 2014 until the end of April 2015.  Aspen Medical continued to play a crucial role in Sierra Leone where it managed the Kerry Town Treatment Unit on behalf of the UK Government as well as providing support to the laboratory run by Public Health England until the end of November 2015. 

In November 2016, Aspen Medical won the International Project Management Association gold medal in the Overseas Humanitarian Aid category for its Ebola Response work in West Africa.

Aspen Medical has also delivered challenging and critical projects in the area of Indigenous health across Australia and supports numerous governments in key projects worldwide, from Australia to the UK, the USA, Africa and the Middle East. 

Health professionals interested in roles at the Aspen Medical field hospital in Mosul should visit the company’s website at www.aspenmedical.com/recruitment.

ENDS

For further enquiries please contact:
Marketing and Communications Director

M  +61 (0)408768791    E    marketing@aspenmedical.com.au