Iraq's hospitals struggle to provide a service

Despite attempts to bring some kind of order to medical services in Iraq, hospitals are struggling to provide any kind of service in the face of fresh attacks by looters, lack of electricity, and disrupted medical supplies. A spokesman for the charity Save the Children Fund has reiterated accusations that the lack of cooperation from the US military is breaching the Geneva convention.

Retired US General Jay Garner toured Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital on 21 April after arriving in the city to take up his post as head of the coalition's Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. The 700 bed hospital was littered with broken glass and still lacked mains power. Its generators are being repaired.

Meanwhile, …