Sulaymaniyah Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Centre
Iraq - Sulaymaniyah
77
National staff. Approximately half have disabilities.
14,025
Prostheses provided
63,400
Physiotherapy treatments
The Facility
In 1998, EMERGENCY built the Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Centre in Sulaymaniyah, a specialist facility for the production of prostheses, orthoses and other aids for disabled and amputee patients, as well as the provision of physiotherapy. The Centre was built here in order to address the high number of injuries sustained due to landmines in Iraqi Kurdistan, and has continued to receive thousands of victims of war and explosive violence in the years since.
The Rehabilitation Centre in Sulaymaniyah remains the only free, specialist facility in the area. It has become a reference point for patients throughout Iraq, as well as further afield in Syria and Iran.
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Reintegration and Empowerment for People with Disabilities
Victims of war and explosive violence face many challenges when attempting to rebuild their lives. EMERGENCY’s approach is holistic, looking beyond immediate treatment to also provide long-term care and support. Physiotherapy, psychological support and socio-economic reintegration are vital.
EMERGENCY’s social reintegration programme aims to restore its patients’ dignity and help them adapt to living with a new disability, enabling individuals to regain a livelihood for themselves and their families. Physical accessibility is an initial focus. To help patients regain autonomy following treatment, EMERGENCY seeks to eliminate architectural barriers in their homes to ensure that they can be independent and move freely within their own living space.
Furthermore, the Centre facilitates occupational reintegration through professional and vocational training courses. Patients can attend various professional training classes – including metalwork, carpentry, tailoring and shoe-making, leatherwork, plumbing, and electronics – in order to aid their return back into work and help achieve independence.
Once courses are completed, EMERGENCY helps patients who wish to establish small business cooperatives and workshops by guaranteeing financial and managerial support for six months, or until operational autonomy is attained.
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Collaboration, Local Staff, and Training
The Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Centre remains under the direct administrative control of EMERGENCY, while our other hospitals and First Aid Posts in the region have been managed by local authorities since 2005.
EMERGENCY’s employment policy for local staff gives priority to people with disabilities and members of disadvantaged social groups. At the Sulaymaniyah Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Centre more than half of the local staff team are former patients or individuals with disabilities.
Training is a core component of EMERGENCY’s approach. Wherever possible, we work to qualify the next generation of local medical professionals, boosting the capability and autonomy of national healthcare infrastructures.
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This project is funded by European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid
The project was made possible with the 8X1000 contribution from the Christian Evangelical Baptist Union of Italy (UCEBI)
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