Iraq's hospitals struggle to provide a service
BMJ 2003; 326 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7395.899 (Published 26 April 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;326:899
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We call on the BMA and the BMJ to oppose the invasion and occupation
of Iraq.
The BMA and the BMJ cannot be neutral and should deplore the massive
loss of life and civilian casualties. The BMA should do everything in its
power to assist the medical profession in Iraq and help to improve the
medical situation there.
The oil ministry was guarded while the hospitals were looted. Many
weeks after the US and British forces took over towns, they were without
water supplies and electricity, endangering the health of their
populations.
Amnesty, Medecins sans Frontieres and the World Health Organisation,
all testify to the contempt for human life displayed by the occupiers, who
left the hospitals bursting with injured Iraqis and very little means for
caring for them. People are still suffering and dying.
We call on the BMA to make contact, via Amnesty and WHO, with the
Iraqi Medical Association in Baghdad and doctors in major hospitals, to
ascertain how we can help our Iraqi colleagues.
We must act now to support Iraqi doctors and lessen the humanitarian
disaster caused by the war.
Yours sincerely,
Mahir S. Mahir
Consultant Surgeon
Anna Athow
Consultant Surgeon
Angela Gorman
Consultant Haematologist
Mahes de Silva
Consultant, National Blood Service
Rose Green
Consultant Physician
Hadeel Hameed-Nasrat
General Practitioner
Iqbal Singh
Professor of Medicine
Jean F Harrison
Consultant, National Blood Service
Maadh Aldouri
Consultant Haematologist
Wael Ismail
Consultant Surgeon
Mohammad Alhejazi
Consultant Surgeon
Bushra Al-Rubeyi
Consultant Paediatrician
Hisham Al-Qassab
Consultant Physician
Ayman S Jundi
Consultant in A&E Medicine
Anwar Alsafar
Consultant Oncologist
Ameir Al-Mukhtar
Consultant Surgeon
Aimen Hassani
Consultant Anaesthetist
Naseer Abdusamad
General Practitioner
Muttib Ali Al-Temimi
Consultant Paediatrician
Talib Al-Mishlab
Consultant Surgeon
Faiza Hassan
Consultant Psychiatrist
Aza Abdullah
Consultant Physician
Ali Al Hassani
Consultant Radiologist
Mustafa El-Zebdeh
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon.
Ali Latif
Consultant Physician
Ismail Jalili
Consultant Ophthalmologist
Amir Al-Samarrai
Consultant Oncologist
Mohammad Al Jasari
Consultant Histopathologist
Riadh Al-Himmani
Oral and Maxillo Facial Surgeon {retired)
Ahmed Hegale,
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Tushar V Gosh
General Practitioner
Munir Adam
General Practitioner
Ayad Khalil
Consultant Anaesthetist
Elsayed Soliman
Consultant Physician
Shakir Alani
Consultnat Neurophysiologist
Dhafir Alokati
Consultant Pathologist
Motez Al-Izzi
Consultant Pathologist
Salaheddin Salim
Consultant ENT Surgeon
Foad Alani
Associate Specialist in Medicine
AN Abbasi
Consultant Oncologist
Maysoon Aldoori
Consultant Paediatrician
Gamal Siam
Associate Specialist in Surgery
Mary Inskip
Associate Specialist, National Blood Services
Jamal Uraiby
Consultant Pathologist
Muhayman Jamil
Associate Specialist Palliative Medicine
Ali Hassan
Associate Specialist in Orthopaedics
Maha Kamal
Clinical Assistant in Haematology
Thamir Ally
SCMO in Psychiatry
Bara Al-Rawi
SpR Orthopaedics
Raya Al-Talib
Staff Grade Anaesthetist
A Karim
Associate Specialist in Dermatology
K. Jaffar
Psychiatrist
M. Abdulla
Rheumatologist
Nada Ayub
Paediatrician
Maisoon Said
GP Registrar
Ali Al-Batran
SHO ENT
Ghada Al-Batran
SHO in Obstetrics
H Hadi Al-Musawi
SHO in Medicine
Abdulazim Saffaf
Associate Specialist, Community Paediatrics
Basma Al-Kamil
SHO in Psychiatry
Amr Farouk Mohamed Salem
SHO in ENT
Ahmed M Shihadah
Staff Grade Doctor in Medicine
Kassim Alkaisy
General Practitioner
Khalid Jaffar
Staff Grade in Psychiatry
Maha Hamdan
General Practitioner
Muhammad Abbas
General Practitioner
Belsam Karim
General Practitioner
Sarmid Abdul Karim Al-Kamil
General Practitioner
Abdullah Al-Nowfal
Senior Clinical Fellow in Surgery
MK Hammad
Staff Grade in GU Medicine
A Zurgani
Staff Grade in Orthopaedics
Khaled Awad
Staff Grade in Orthopaedics
Saad Al-Dujailly
Urologist
Sohail Chosky
SpR in General Surgery
S Swedan
General Practitioner
H Swedan
General Practitioner
A Ibrahim
General Practitioner
Sonia Khandil
Associate Specialist, Obs & Gyn
Ahmed Helmy
Clinical Research Fellow in Endocrinology
Amjid Azeb
Staff grade in A/E
Ayad Salmons
SHO
Delshad Alsheikh
Staff grade A/E
Thamir AlSaidy
General Practitioner
Ahmad Khalil
Staff Grade Anaesthesia
Rifaat AboLayeh
Associate specialist Obs And Gynae
Talal Bazaara
Associate Specialist medicine elderly
Ghiath Alsaigh
Staff grade A/E
Safa Kaftan
Staff grade A/E
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Editor,
The photograph accompanying the article on the plight of Iraq's
hospitals is very interesting. It shows General Jay Garner on a visit to
Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital laying on hands in what appears to be a clean,
intact ward which is equipped with modern devices. This is at odds with
the description in the text of the article.
The shot is carefully staged. I wonder whether the BMJ has
inadvertently bought in to a very subtle piece of military propaganda.
Martin Rolles
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
A Call for Support and Solidarity with Iraqi Doctors
I wish to add my voice to those of Mr Mahir and his colleagues in
their call for the support of the struggling Iraqi doctors and other
health professionals working under impossible conditions within Iraq.
However, I respectfully disagree in the strongest possible terms with
their call for the immediate ending of the occupation of Iraq. I may
disagree with most aspects of the handling of the post-invasion situation
by the coalition forces but one should never loose sight of the greusome
fact that what was achieved was the removal of the most vicious regime
known to the modern middle east. Anyone requiring proof for this should
follow the news of the mass graves where hundreds of thousands of Iraqis
have been buried after mass executions. This should now put an end once
and for any claims that Saddam's regime is simply one of many criminal
regimes in the middle east. It is not. It is unique in its criminality and
murderous record.
It also had total disregard for human health while
spending lavishly on palaces and weapons. One thing there is no shortage
of in Iraq today is weapons and ammunition that was bought by Saddam with
our money. There must be enough ammunition to blow up every Iraqi family
several times over. Saddam has not been found and the Fascist Ba'ath
regime has simply gone into hiding with billions of dollars at its
disposal.
If the occupation ends today the regime will be back in power
within weeks. That will definitely be bad for the health of Iraqis. I hope
to God that this temporary but disastrous phase will be over quickly and
health and other services will start to improve. Iraqi health services
definitely need all the help it can get and I call on our BMA to do what
it can. Interestingly when Iraqi doctors demonstrated in Baghdad they did
not call for the end to the occupation but for the sacking of Dr Janabi; a
member of the old regime.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests