MILAN -(Impact Newswire)- The Inauguration Ceremony of the Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf Teaching Hospital took place in the presence of the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Shià Al-Sudani, the Iraqi Minister of Health, Saleh Al-Hasnawi, the Italian Ambassador to Iraq, Maurizio Greganti, and GKSD/GSD Chairman & Vice-President Kamel Ghribi.  The Iraqi government entrusted the management of the hospital to leading Italian Healthcare group Gruppo San Donato (GSD). Doing the honours, Kamel Ghribi, Vice-President of the San Donato Group and President of GKSD Investment Holding, was flanked by the Vice-President of the Senate of the Italian Republic, Licia Ronzulli and the EU Special Representative for the Gulf region, Luigi Di Maio, who flew especially for this event from Italy.

The contract, won by GSD and GKSD over a year ago, provides for the organisational, structural, technological and administrative management of the hospital.

This is a second life for the Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf Teaching Hospital, one of the most important university polyclinics in the city of Najaf, which is about 160 km from the capital Baghdad, with a population of about one million two hundred thousand, and is considered one of the holiest cities in Shia Islam.

The new GSD management has now provided a team of 50 professionals including technical, administrative and medical staff and has already enabled, among other things, the return of several specialists who were forced to leave the country during the war years and have now returned to make an effective contribution to Iraq’s restart in the health sector. Indeed, healthcare is one of the priorities of the current government, led by Mohammed Shià Al-Sudani, with the aim of promoting and improving the quality of care for Iraqi citizens, an urgent need that the strategic partnership between the Iraqi government, GSD and GKSD aims to address with renewed commitment.

In particular, the start of the clinical and technological training provided by GSD to the hospital’s medical and managerial staff, together with the transfer of GKSD Engineering & Construction’s skills and technical knowledge, used for the reconstruction of the hospital structure, have brought Iraq closer to Italy, paving the way for future collaborations across other industrial fields as well.

“Our people deserve the best care. We may be lagging behind in other areas, but we cannot lag behind in health care,’ said the Iraqi Prime Minister. The government’s strategic plan for the country’s healthcare also includes the construction of 16 new hospitals, specialised centres for the treatment of the most serious and widespread diseases. “Our citizens will no longer be forced to go abroad for treatment and will be direct witnesses of a momentous change in the level of quality of care,” concluded the Iraqi Prime Minister, who did not fail to add a special thank you to GSD and its Vice-President Kamel Ghribi, for accepting a challenge that he himself considered to be very complex.

Concluding the inauguration, Kamel Ghribi, Chairman of GKSD and Vice President of San Donato Group, said: “Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf Teaching Hospital is a unique demonstration of how healthcare can break down barriers, create value and build bridges between nations. Working tirelessly behind the scenes, we have overcome obstacles to embrace Prime Minister Mohammed Shià Al-Sudani’s bold vision, proving that with perseverance and a strong union, anything is possible”.