PRT ensures quality of Sar Hawza school, clinic

 

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team members checked progress of a school and clinic being built in Sar Hawza District April 3.

Both are already in use despite ongoing construction on administrative offices at the clinic and the renovation of classrooms at the school.

 

Engineering is one key to the quality assurance process, but the PRT assesses the development of its projects from medical and social perspectives too.

U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Tamora Holland, PRT medical officer from Pittsburgh, said her mission is to understand the operations and management issues at the clinic.

“They claim that they see from 80 to 120 patients a day,” Holland said. “They don’t have any complaints and have been in contact with the provincial director of public health.”

Holland also learned the clinic has one midwife are able to restock supplies through the International Medical Corps, a non-government organization subcontracted by the Ministry of Public Health.

U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Jason Buswell, PRT project manager from Groton, Conn., toured the construction site with the contractor to ensure everything from the design to the structural quality was in check.

“This is actually the first time we’ve been up here to look at this project,” Buswell said. “It’s good to see that almost 100 percent of the workers are from the local area.”

“In the beginning, we had some discussions with the local elders here about who’s going to work here,” said Vas Mullah, the Sar Hawza school contractor. “They were enforcing us to use their local workers here, and we agreed with that.”
Mullah said the section of the school currently under construction will eventually hold about 250 students.

“The building is in really good shape,” Buswell added. “Once they put the windows in it’s going to be really nice.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Mike Hammond, PRT member from Huntsville, Ala., spoke with students, patients and villagers in the vicinity to get their opinion on the clinic and school.

There are about 600 students attending the Sar Hawza school; grades one through six meet in the morning, while grades seven through 12 meet in the afternoon. When asked about security, students said nobody intimidates them or tries to prevent them from going to school.

Hammond also asked students about the Sar Hawza clinic. Saymaiuloah, a 9-year-old student, said he had his tonsils removed there, and both his mother and his little sister are current patients.

One patient explained how he drove two hours from Urgun District to Sar Hawza because he had appendicitis, and wanted the best medical care he could receive. He said doctors removed his appendix with no issues.

With a well-rounded understanding of these projects from engineering, medical and social perspectives, PRT members said they can move forward with reconstruction efforts. As the weather continues to improve in Paktika, the construction season will continue to pick up its pace.

“They seem like they’re using good materials,” Buswell said. “All in all it seems like the season is off to a good start.”

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