Kaédi Regional Hospital

The Hôpital de Kaédi is the regional hospital in Kaédi the Senegal River Basin. It is the largest hospital in the south of Mauritania outside the country's capital, Nouakchott. 1995, it was honored for his back cross on traditional building architecture concept with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Architecture

The enclosed by a wall extensive area of the hospital is located on the northwestern outskirts of the junction of the road leading westward direction Bogue. Two older long rectangular building made ​​of cement hollow blocks parallel to the road in the east of the site include patient enrollment, investigations and hospital room. The design of the Italian architect Fabrizio Carola on behalf of the Association pour le Développement d'une Architecture et d'un Urbanisme Africains ( ADAUA ) provided an extension to the west, consisting of numerous individual buildings, which are connected by semi-open corridors. The initial work on the site began in 1981 until 1989, the plant was largely completed.

The closed except for window openings patient rooms and the largely open and only covered pavilion -like lounges of the members are similar to the rondavels ( tukul ) distributed an African village at first glance as desired over the place. The basic plan for the planned 120-bed expansion resembles a flowering vine. The scattered buildings with large open spaces between them are for patients and relatives to create an intimate, personal living environment similar situation and reduce the risk of germ transmission by the distances between the units. Toilets and water points in the rear area are integrated into freestanding blocks of open spiral walls.

About the circular or oval bases of the lounges buckle ring in layers of burnt brick masonry dome shells, whose round shapes are modern versions of the Nubian vault. As with the traditional Nubian vault construction was decided not to formwork and falsework to require not a scarce in the savannah wood. The large dome rooms are designed for 12 beds. The treatment rooms have a lens-shaped floor plan. During construction, it was found that the rooms were too dark, so small fields were walled with glass blocks in the domes.

The walkways are covered with elegant, tapered barrel vault. Lateral wall slots provide subdued light and ventilation. The wall openings forced them aufzumauern the tiles in horizontal layers, creating a wooden formwork was required in the construction of programs. Prevent the massive walls that heat up the room too much by the midday sun. The daytime temperatures in the summer months 45 ° C.

Many of the plan provided and partly also used trees were used by the relatives of the patient as firewood for cooking, more plantings was omitted therefore. The grass is kept short of goats.

The fired clay bricks on site were a contribution to reduce costs and meet the objectives of operating in West Africa ADAUA group of architects, which realizes low cost and ecologically sound construction projects with dome shapes. This comes at a time when the in Mauritania, most of the still largely nomadic in the country's independence in 1960 the population has become sedentary and now housing in the cities is urgently needed. At the same time local artisans to be trained in the implementation of these new construction techniques. The A.D.A.U.A. of in the 1970s and 1980s, the projects undertaken are intended as models for further dissemination.

The total cost should be about four million U.S. dollars, which was provided by the European Development Fund. About the actual cost of the Mauritanian authorities gave no information. During the construction period, no tests have been made of brick quality, which would have been required for a project of this scale and of an experimental nature urgently. The several small kilns in the vicinity of partially insufficient fired bricks caused some cracks in buildings in the coming years and are not sufficiently water resistant. Some wall openings had to be closed by the users in the lower region, as the wind had blown in too much sand.

Medical care

There was an operating room set, which is closed as a single room and equipped with air conditioning, in addition there is a Pediatrics, Department of Ophthalmology, a maternity ward and technical side rooms. The client was the Mauritanian Ministry of Health. The clinic director Abba Ould Alem (October 2008) manages the autonomous since 2006, public institution.

Kaédi is the capital of the administrative region Gorgol; the hospital is used to supply the ( according to the 2000 census ) about 250,000 inhabitants of the rural district. Also, patients from the district Brakna come here. In Gorgol there are also four basic health centers. Except for the asphalt roads to Bogue and Selibabi the other roads are in poor condition.

The time of construction in the 1980s, the only major hospital in the country in Nouakchott had 500 beds. The then existing facility was described as inadequate and poorly maintained. About the quality of medical equipment and supplies of the hospital in Kaédi there is no precise information. 1997 was the staff of two doctors, including a surgeon, 17 paramedics, 7 nurses, 3 midwives and 3 in-house technicians. As in the entire city is on the hospital premises a problem with the garbage disposal. A lot of the buildings were empty in October 2010. For 2008, an occupancy rate of 43 percent is specified, a little more than other regional hospitals, the average capacity utilization of 37 percent.

In certain cases, malnourished children reach remote areas of the hospital to be supplied here for a few days with food.

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