The United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) on Tuesday attended a ceremony to acknowledge the completion of a new 20-bed hospital purpose-built for regional peacekeepers and the local community in Baidoa, the administrative capital of Southwest state.

UNSOS Director Amadu Kamara represented UNSOS at the ceremony, hosted by AMISOM Sector Commander Brigadier-General Gabremeskel Gebrezigabe, and attended by AMISOM Chief of Integrated Support services Brian Boucher as well as other members of the UN, AMISOM and Somalia National Army communities.

The hospital, operated by AMISOM, will also serve Somali security forces personnel and UN staff, and has outpatient and in-patient services, as well as x-ray, dental and laboratory facilities.

Gen. Gabremeskel said the first group of nurses for the hospital had been trained and were ready to take up their duties.

“I would like to thank UNSOS departments of logistics and engineering for their support, for their determination and years of hard work,” he said.

Kamara lauded AMISOM troops for the level of security afforded to the ongoing electoral process in Somalia: “There have not been security incidents because of the way AMISOM conduct themselves. I would like to thank the staff and everyone for a wonderful job.”

Medical staff at the newly opened AMISOM Level II hospital in Baidoa, Somalia. The hospital was constructed with support from the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) and opened by Amadu Kamara, the UNSOS Director Incharge of Mission Support, on November 15, 2016. UN Photo / Sabir Olad.

Amadu Kamara (in khaki jacket), the Director Incharge of Mission Support at the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) and Gen. Gabremeskel Gebrezigabe (with watering can), the Sector 3 Commander of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), plant trees to commemorate the opening of the new AMISOM hospital in Baidoa, Somalia on November 15, 2016. UN Photo / Sabir Olad.