Chaos and War Leave Iraq's Hospitals in Ruins- NYT

[Rose Siding]

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 13 — At Baghdad's Central Teaching Hospital for Children, gallons of raw sewage wash across the floors. The drinking water is contaminated. According to doctors, 80 percent of patients leave with infections they did not have when they arrived.

Doctors say they have been beaten up in the emergency room. Blood is in such short supply that physicians often donate their own to patients lying in front of them.

"The word `big' is not enough to express the disaster we are facing," said Ahmed A. Muhammad, the hospital's assistant manager.

To be sure, Iraq's hospitals were in bleak shape before the American-led invasion last year. International isolation and the sanctions imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 had already shattered a public health care system that was once the jewel of the Middle East. Crucial machines stopped working. Drugs were in short supply.

Conditions eased a bit once the United Nations oil-for-food program started in 1996, but the country still suffered, especially the children.

But Iraqi doctors say the war has pushed them closer to disaster. Fighting and sabotage have destroyed crucial infrastructure and the fall of Saddam Hussein precipitated a breakdown in social order.

"It's definitely worse now than before the war," said Eman Asim, the Ministry of Health official who oversees the country's 185 public hospitals. "Even at the height of sanctions, when things were miserable, it wasn't as bad as this. At least then someone was in control."

Occupation authorities insist improvements are coming.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/14/international/middleeast/14HOSP.html

[burrowowl]

1. Occupation authorities

insist improvements are coming.
After how many deaths!:mad:

[Katherine2]

5. But on Fox News

they said Baghdad was a paradise. The reporter (Molly Hennenberg, who must be related to some bigwig there) said Baghdad is just bursting with country clubs and ice cream parlors. She made it sound so good I just assumed nobody there ever got sick or hurt. Maybe they don't really need the hospitals. (I'm being sarcastic -- not sure of the protocol here.)

[PartyPooper]

2. Thank you for posting this eye-opener.

I read countless posts similar to this back in the summer of last year. It seems conditions have worsened considerably since then.

This is all so heart-breaking. I weep for all of those innocent Iraqis 'liberated' by Bush*.

When will this nightmare end?

[drscm]

3. Where is Halliburton when you need them? /sarcasm off nt

nt

[Barkley]

4. I guess this ends Bush and Blair's chances for the Nobel Peace Prize

[ScrewyRabbit]

6. That's too bad, because apparently they worked

pretty well BEFORE we got there...

[Oilwellian]

7. But wait a minute....

Just a week ago, Bush said this:

"Seeing great need, our servicemen and women have rebuilt hospitals, repaired schools ... ," he said. At that point, there was a sound similar to automatic gunfire. After a second's hesitation, Bush continued, "and organized the donation of books and clothing and toys for Iraqi children."

Was the sound similar to automatic gunfire God's way of talking to the boy king who was LYING HIS ASS OFF?

http://sidebar.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/05/bush.loudnoise.ap/