Story by Multi-National Division - Northeast PAO
During the brief ceremony that followed, Republic of Korea Lt. Col. Lee Hae-Seol, commander, ROK Division's Medical Battalion, handed flowers and gifts to Mhiadin and other Iraqi patients in front of a beaming hospital staff.
"The forty thousandth visitor is not really a cause for celebration," he said. "It is more of a chance to reflect on the pain the locals are going through, and to remind ourselves of the work that needs to be done for more devoted treatment."
This year, it took only seven months to match the previous year's total. As word of the staff's kindness and skill spread, more and more patients started coming, some traveling three to four hours from Dahuk and Sulaymaniyah provinces.
The 40,000th visitor brought both joy and temporary relief from a busy work load, as well as a chance to recall the patients that have been treated, said ROK Capt. Kim Keun-Hwan, a surgeon in the hospital.
"I especially remember this little girl who suffered a serious burn all over her body. She was in great despair, but we could treat her really well," he said. "Giving life back and spreading love is really all medicine is about. Hopefully I can keep doing that here for a long time."
Admission to the hospital requires a ticket given at local clinics operated by the
Kurdish Regional Government Ministry of Health or the Zaytun Mobile Clinic, a traveling unit that visits remote areas without access to KRG clinics.
The tickets have become coveted items in the region, reflecting the hospital's soaring popularity.
But the Koreans' work in promoting the medical condition in the region goes beyond the walls of Zaytun.
Their division has provided the KRG and the regions' clinics with medical supplies, including eight ambulances and 450 wheelchairs, at a cost of $3.6 million.
The hospital also ran an intensive, eight-week internship program starting in Dec. 2004 for local doctors and nurses recommended by the KRG as representatives of growing a pool of skilled, home-grown medical personnel.
In a letter to the hospital, the KRG's Minister of Health, Mohammad Qadir Koshnow, thanked the staff for their role in so devotedly assisting the population.
"Along with the (Korean) reconstruction projects, the Zaytun Hospital's work is playing a vital role in saving many lives in Sulaymaniyah and Irbil," Koshnow said.