Shattered Iraqi Hospitals Struggle to Recover
Fri April 25, 2003 04:07 PM ET
By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Surgeons use dirty water from wells to scrub their hands. Oxygen supplies are running low. Iraqi vigilantes guard buildings armed with AK-47s.

Iraq's battered hospitals are struggling to recover after U.S.-led forces deposed Saddam Hussein and it could take months to restore services after the pillaging that followed.

Most hospitals are functioning at 25-percent capacity and some doctors cannot even afford to drive to work.

"It is difficult to get lab results because the lack of electricity means we can't refrigerate fluids. The heart monitors were stolen," said Dr. Hassan Abdel Karim, at the 1,000-bed Yarmuk hospital.

"We can't work the Cat Scan or take X-rays. The maternity unit is only operational 12 hours a day. The hospital is crippled."

Jay Garner, the retired general the United States has appointed to oversee Iraq's reconstruction, made the hospital his first stop on a tour of the capital this week, to see the situation for himself.

Before the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq boasted some of the best hospitals in the region but years of sanctions and government neglect meant many were ill-equipped and lacking medical supplies even before the recent looting.

Some hospitals now face an acute shortage of basic medicines, including anesthetics and painkillers. Others still have drug stocks and some looted medicines have been handed in at mosques after religious leaders intervened.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva said an overhaul of the administration was crucial before hospitals were re-equipped for the longer term.

"The main problem that needs to be tackled is setting up some sort of administrative structure to deal with the health care sector," said ICRC spokesman Florian Westphal.

RULE OF THE JUNGLE

Iraqi vigilantes are now protecting hospitals with AK-47 assault rifles. U.S. troops have also started guarding them.

But even transporting patients to hospitals can be risky.

"I picked up a boy with a gunshot wound the other night and suddenly an American soldier started firing at us and we had to turn around," said Ahmed Ramadan, an ambulance driver.

Hospitals are paralyzed by uncertainty.

The collapse of Saddam's government means doctors are not receiving their salary of an average $20 a month. Many can no longer afford to gas up their cars to get to work, not having been paid since the United States launched its attacks on Baghdad on March 20.

"Three of our generators were hit by shells during the war. We cannot really perform difficult operations," said Dr. Mustafa Badr sitting in Yarmouk Hospital's cafeteria where a mangy cat sniffed through some old crackers on a table.

While hospitals are under pressure due to shortages, they are overwhelmed by gunshot victims in a country where AK-47 assault rifles have been looted from the military.

Iraqis every day fire weapons in the air or at each other, then end up in the emergency room.

At the Revolution Hospital, a woman lay on the ground sobbing next to her son, who died of a gunshot wound. His friend sat in the emergency room with a bullet wound in the arm.

"We have about five gunshot operations a day. It's a big problem," said Dr. Fakhri Malik. "There is no security. Someone can just come in here and kill you."

At a Baghdad children's hospital, doctors do not have enough medical supplies to treat cancer victims with chemotherapy. The intensive care unit is closed, dust piled on tables.

The last thing hospital staff needed was a drunken man bursting in with a hand grenade Thursday, threatening to blow up the complex up if doctors refused to treat his dog bites. He was arrested by U.S. soldiers.

"This used to be a very important hospital. We used to treat about 1,000 patients a day. Look what it has become," said Dr. Osama Mohammad, standing in the garden of the hospital beside graves of Iraqi civilians, soldiers and pro-Saddam militiamen killed in the war.

Eventually, the repair and re-equipment of hospitals is expected to be paid for with revenues from Iraq's oil, with U.S. contractors vying for business.

The first big Iraq rebuilding contract, awarded to U.S. company Bechtel Group Inc. earlier this month, will include work on hospitals, alongside repair of the power system, water supplies and other key infrastructure projects.